Tag Archives: Green Mountain

400. How matters

2014-03-24 Comments Off on 400. How matters

I have been doing a lot of thinking over the past few weeks as a result of all the coverage of water issues in coffee media–not on water so much as the nature of international development work.  I am reminded that, in the words of a former colleague, the “how” of what we do may […]

398. Water, water everywhere

2014-03-19 Comments Off on 398. Water, water everywhere

Water seemed to be everywhere in the coffee news last week, and the biggest headlines were reserved for TOMS, which is expanding from shoes and fashion accessories into specialty coffee, and bringing its One-for-One approach with it: for each bag of coffee it sells, TOMS will deliver a week of water to a person in […]

396. SCAA Expo: The view from the coffeelands

2014-03-10 Comments Off on 396. SCAA Expo: The view from the coffeelands

SCAA’s 2014 Expo opens in a little more than a month, which means it’s time for the annual CRS Coffeelands Blog SCAA preview.  After a careful review of the lecture program, I wonder whether this year’s Expo may the best ever for folks like me coming in from the coffeelands.

393. What we miss when we take care of the business

2014-02-26 Comments Off on 393. What we miss when we take care of the business

Root Capital’s issue brief on social and environmental due diligence is lousy with insight.  But one phrase in particular jumped off the page for me: the one in which it notes that lenders “typically interact only with the business.” I think the same can be fairly said of most of the supply chain actors downstream […]

383. Stumptown releases Borderlands microlot

2014-02-06 Comments Off on 383. Stumptown releases Borderlands microlot

Stumptown Coffee yesterday released its first microlot from our Borderlands project in Colombia, comprised of small lots from four farms in Nariño. If you are interested in exceptional coffee, where it comes from, or both, we humbly suggest three actions: READ the post below for more detail about the amazing growers behind this amazing coffee; […]

378. New Year’s resolutions

2014-01-07 Comments Off on 378. New Year’s resolutions

It’s that time of year again — the time we all make New Year’s resolutions that are destined to be broken.  So here are three from the coffeelands: Generate more results-based evidence. Help the coffee sector navigate uncharted waters. Borrow a page from the microfinance playbook. Only we plan on keeping these.

373. Coffee in the Age of Exploration

2013-11-25 Comments Off on 373. Coffee in the Age of Exploration

Ten years ago, almost no one in coffee was talking about hunger in the coffeelands.  Now it seems almost everyone is.  How did the issue of food security in coffee communities move from the margins to the mainstream of the industry’s sustainability agenda in just a few short years?  The answer is both important and […]

371. World Coffee Development

2013-11-12 Comments Off on 371. World Coffee Development

Did I write yesterday in rebooting the blog that I will focus ruthlessly on our work in Colombia and Ecuador?  Yes.  And does this first post address something not directly related to our work in the field there?  Absolutely.  Why?  Because World Coffee Development might be the single most important thing the coffee sector does—or […]