Tag Archives: SCAA Expo

An in depth SCAA Expo preview: A panel discussion on The Coffee Variety Conundrum

2016-04-04 Comments Off on An in depth SCAA Expo preview: A panel discussion on The Coffee Variety Conundrum

SCAA Preview in Depth:  The Coffee Variety Conundrum: Does Breeding for Disease Resistance Come at the Expense of Flavor? Friday, April 15th, 9AM Room B407,Spanish translation available About this time last year, my first post for the Coffeelands Blog introduced this idea- the coffee variety conundrum – namely, how difficult it is to be a […]

452. The SCAA Event: The annual Coffeelands preview

2015-03-09 Comments Off on 452. The SCAA Event: The annual Coffeelands preview

The 27th SCAA Event opens one month from today, which means it’s time for my annual SCAA preview and picks for the show’s best origin content. This year’s preview, which ran a little longer than last year’s, is thematic in focus.  If you are in a hurry, or prefer a chronological format that presents the […]

440. Revisiting our 2014 New Year’s resolutions

2015-01-06 Comments Off on 440. Revisiting our 2014 New Year’s resolutions

A year ago we made three New Year’s resolutions on this blog: Generate more results-based evidence. Help the coffee sector navigate uncharted waters. Borrow a page from the microfinance playbook. Today we revisit those resolutions to see how we did on each one in 2014.

439. The best of Coffeelands: 2014 in review

2014-12-30 Comments Off on 439. The best of Coffeelands: 2014 in review

The CRS Coffeelands Blog turned five in November. Here is the content from the blog’s fifth year that you, the readers, liked the best. Or rather, it is is the content you read the most, since in some cases you did not care too much for what I had to say.

430. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings

2014-11-03 Comments Off on 430. The CRS Colombian Varietal Cuppings

Readers of this blog will know that we have partered with World Coffee Research (WCR) and some of the brightest lights in specialty coffee, research and philanthropy on the Colombia Sensory Trial–a side-by-side sensory comparison of Castillo- and Caturra-variety coffee samples taken from farms in Colombia growing, harvesting and processing both under virtually identical conditions.  […]

412. Farmworkers on the record

2014-06-30 Comments Off on 412. Farmworkers on the record

When I was an undergraduate, I watched more C-Span than I cared to admit.  The parliamentary protocols of the U.S. House of Representatives became almost as familiar to me as the rites of the Catholic Mass, and the language members used as they rose to deliver comments on the floor etched itself in my memory: […]

407. “A dignified life”

2014-05-01 Comments Off on 407. “A dignified life”

Today is International Workers Day, also known as Labor Day throughout the coffeelands of Latin America.  Seems like an appropriate day for me to share some reflections on the farmworker conversation I had the privilege to moderate during last week’s SCAA Expo. The post is unusually long because the conversation was uncommonly rich. Of all […]

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.

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.

350. Reflections on the c-word

2013-04-17 Comments Off on 350. Reflections on the c-word

CRS began working in coffee just over 10 years ago in response to a crisis.  Today the coffee sector finds itself coping with another crisis.  As I prepare for four days of meetings here in Guatemala to plan a coordinated response to the coffee rust epidemic in Central America, I try to remember that challenges […]