Social Return on Investment, or SROI, is a holistic approach to measuring return on investment that goes beyond financial returns to consider also an investment’s social, economic and environmental impacts. The farmers of the 5 de junio cooperative in Nicaragua, in partnership with the Fabretto Foundation, a local NGO dedicated to promoting food security, seem […]
Fresh Cup Magazine has published its annual Coffee Almanac. The 2011 edition includes great profile of Rick Peyser of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters as part of the magazine’s “Characters in Coffee” series. The article focuses on Rick’s commitment to address the issue of seasonal hunger in the coffeelands, from the initial field research he commissioned […]
The study on the economic impacts of Fair Trade and organic certifications that appeared in a recent issue of Ecological Economics has prompted some good, informed discussion, but also its share of distortion. After carefully reading (and re-reading) the study, here is my take on it as someone who works with both certified and non-certified […]
At last month’s SCAA Symposium, we were invited to reexamine our assumptions about sustainability in coffee — what we think we know about the issue that may not be true. At the time, I thought that exercise produced some provocative responses. And then I read a recent study on the impacts of organic and Fair […]
The premiere of the After the Harvest documentary at last week’s Symposium was followed by a breakout session joined by everyone interested in further exploring the issue. The participants — more than 20 in all — included well-known importers and roasters, celebrity estate farmers, non-profits working on coffee, and others more difficult to characterize. Most […]
I have been reflecting this week on some of what I considered to be the highlights of last week’s SCAA event. One of them came unexpectedly, during the Coffee Kids reception. Mike Ferguson from Batdorf & Bronson, the pioneering specialty roaster and longtime Coffee Kids supporter, offered some perspectives on the lived realities of coffee […]
There was some engaging plenary discussion on sustainability at last week’s Symposium. During one session, the facilitator broke us into small discussion groups to revisit some of the critical assumptions we make about the sustainability movement in coffee — what we think we know about the issue that may not be true. I particularly appreciated […]
The issue of seasonal hunger in the coffeelands is one that I have been addressing on this blog dating back to my first posts in late 2009, generating little apparent interest. Last week at SCAA, however, following the world premiere of the powerful documentary After the Harvest, it seemed to be all anyone wanted to […]
As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I participated this year for the first time in the SCAA’s annual Symposium. I realized what a coffee geek I am when I felt mildly star-struck by my contact with such luminaries as James Hoffman, Peter Giuliano, Geoff Watts, Aida Batlle, and others similarly positioned in the industry’s stratosphere. […]
Tomorrow I travel to Houston for the annual gathering of the SCAA. CRS has participated in some capacity in every SCAA since 2004, but this year is special. It marks our first time participating in Symposium, our first time with a booth on the show floor (#441) and the largest CRS delegation ever. With new […]
