Is It Too Late To Save Coffee?
I'm assuming that if you're a member of our MAP IT FORWARD audience, then you're at least mildly interested in protecting the future of our supply chain.
If you've been listening to the conversations we've been having this year, particularly last week's conversation with Sasa Sestic, then you could be forgiven for wondering whether or not having hope that the coffee price crisis can be fixed is even plausible.
@fazendaambientalfortaleza - Fazenda Ambiental Fortaleza in Brazil
I'm neither a pessimist nor am I an optimist. I am a motivated, determined, grit filled realist that, as long as hope exists, I'm going to conspire towards being a part of a successful outcome.
To date, many of the solutions presented to me by app makers and blockchain builders have failed to impress. Given the severity and complexity of the crisis, most of the solutions presented don't even come close to even understanding the situation let alone solving it.
Real talk...I don't know if we can fix this situation. It's been so shit for so long without the majority of us noticing, and we've been undervaluing these farmers and what they do for us for so long that I'm afraid we're all bare the consequence of that ignorance and arrogance that "coffee will be around forever".
If we lay all the cards on the table as they are, it just simply doesn't make any sense for smallholder commercial and specialty coffee farmers to continue farming given the disconnect between the cost of production, the cost of doing business for a farm, and the terribly low price (directly or indirectly influenced by the C) that we're paying. I continue to receive videos from farmers cutting down their trees in outrage because they aren't able to pay their staff, feed their families, pay the bank or keep their farms.
I'm currently working with an investigative journalist to see what we can unveil about this situation when it comes to the big corporates etc, but the fact of the matter remains, it may be too late.
It's my belief that, at the core of the coffee price crisis, is a deeper more fundamental crisis. Coffee is in a branding crisis. We call instant, espresso, batch brew, pour overs, cold brew, Elixir, and roasted coffee....coffee. The price range of all that "coffee" starts at $0.07 per cup for a cup of instant, to $100 per cup for a cup of the award-winning Panamanian Gesha sold for $1029/lb by Elida Estate and brewed at Klatch Coffee in California. It's all "coffee" but it's not all the same "coffee".
We have a branding crisis, friends! If we don't take control of the narrative I'm afraid it may end up being too late.
Photo by @projectorigincoffee
In an effort to address the "price" part of the crisis, coffee professional Chad Trewick and Professor of Organization & Management from Emory University in Atlanta Georgia, Peter Roberts, have joined forces to create the Specialty Coffee Transaction Guide.
Data donors from around the world contributing coffee purchasing data in the hope of encouraging transparency within the industry. The data is analyzed, creating an annual report that uses "this anonymized and appropriately aggregated information to create annual Transaction Guides that report on the distributions of recent FOB* prices for green specialty coffees" (further details here).
In my early professional years as Business Analyst and Project Manager with IBM, I became well versed with the fuckery that goes into creating even the most well-intentioned reports. I never took part in said fuckery but definitely witnessed how people shift and change numbers to give tell the story they want told. Data integrity is everything. If you can't rely on the data, the resulting report is worthless.
For this reason, I wanted to have Chad and Peter on the podcast and unpack the project for everyone to understand. Some of the biggest names in specialty coffee from around the globe have donated their data to this project and I want to take a deep dive into its future with them.
On Monday 4th at 10 am PT, Chad Trewick @chadtrewick with be on the podcast, and the week after we have Peter on the podcast. They bring very different skill sets to the project with the very best of intentions.
Click here to watch the conversation with Chad either live or after it's aired. It will be available in your podcasting apps later in the day.
I feel very fortunate to be able to bring you these very important and thought-provoking discussions. Thank you for inhaling them the way you do!
This article was written by Lee Safar. Lee is the founder of MAP IT FORWARD and the CEO of Elixir Specialty Coffee Inc. An 18-year veteran of the Australian Specialty Coffee industry, Lee is now based in San Diego, California where she runs both businesses and records daily episodes of The MAP IT FORWARD Podcast featuring guests from around the world specializing in all sectors of the coffee value chain. Lee travels the world doing professional business and career development focused workshops and consultations for the global coffee industry.
Lee has a bachelors degree in Science (Genetics) from the University of NSW, an associate diploma in counseling and interpersonal skills, extensive experience in project management and business analysis in the corporate sector, and was a releasing music artist and record label owner.