Tag Archives: hunger

The SCAA Event: Annual Coffeelands Preview

2016-03-22 Comments Off on The SCAA Event: Annual Coffeelands Preview

In less than one month the gavel will sound to open The SCAA Event.  That means it’s time for the annual Coffeelands preview of The Event’s best “origin content.” In my 2012 SCAA preview post, I divided my picks into three “streams of enlightenment”—“downstream” presentations that push knowledge of origin toward the marketplace, “upstream” presentations […]

409. The coming crisis in the coffeelands

2014-06-05 Comments Off on 409. The coming crisis in the coffeelands

The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWS NET) released another update on the food security situation in Central America last week.  I have not been working directly on our response to coffee leaf rust in Central America, and I have not been publishing much here lately.  But I felt compelled by a “lost-in-translation” moment in […]

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 […]

387. Coffee leaf rust update: Stressed acute food insecurity

2014-02-17 Comments Off on 387. Coffee leaf rust update: Stressed acute food insecurity

Editor’s Note: This post has been revised to include additonal detail about the “stressed acute food insecurity” classification applied to Guatemala and Honduras by FEWS NET. – – – – – The Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET), a USAID-funded initiative that monitors hunger in chronically food insecure countries around the world, late last week […]

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 […]

365. This is what vulnerability looks like

2013-06-17 Comments Off on 365. This is what vulnerability looks like

As a principle, I believe that we learn better from direct experience than from books and data and graphics.  And as a matter of experience, I know that traveling to the coffeelands can be a source of endless illumination about the secret lives of coffee farmers.  Nothing helps us understand the vulnerability of poor households […]

257. The sources of hunger in the coffeelands

2012-04-11 Comments Off on 257. The sources of hunger in the coffeelands

A friend at SCAA recently invited me to submit a 1200-word article to The Specialty Coffee Chronicle on the sources of seasonal hunger in the coffeelands and promising approaches to addressing it.  I guess I got a little carried away with the assignment – my initial draft came in at closer to 3000 words.  Thanks […]

251. SCAA 2012: The view from the coffeelands

2012-03-12 Comments Off on 251. SCAA 2012: The view from the coffeelands

In keeping with an annual tradition started back in 2009, today I publish my third annual preview of “don’t miss” SCAA presentations.  This year, I divide my picks into two “streams of enlightenment” — “downstream” presentations that push knowledge of origin toward the marketplace, and “upstream” presentations that bring market intelligence to farmers and agencies […]

246. How to invest at origin?

2012-02-24 Comments Off on 246. How to invest at origin?

For pioneering roasters and importers whose interest in sustainability goes beyond sourcing certified coffees, the question may not be whether to reinvest at origin, but how?  Is it best to go it alone, reinvesting in the farmers who grow your coffee and their communities?  Or is it better to work collaboratively at origin with the […]

216. The CRS Coffeelands Blog turns 2

2011-11-09 Comments Off on 216. The CRS Coffeelands Blog turns 2

Today the CRS Coffeelands Blog celebrates the second anniversary of its inaugural post back on 9 November 2009.  The blog has managed to turn our experience in CAFE Livelihoods and other projects at origin into more than 200 original posts over the past two years — posts that have  generated thoughtful discussion among leading figures […]