http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/magaz ... onomy.html
About an entrepreneur in Uganda. Wouldn't call it specialty as its exported roasted.

Marvin

Interesting article, I really admire his vision, drive, and passion. One of the comments at the end of the article sums up the problem with trying to take his coffee so vertical, it is perishable green and highly perishable roasted. The perishability of roasted coffee is the part that is missed over and over again in these debates and all the hand-wringing about not enough of the coffee dollar pie making it back to the grower. The brokers, wholesalers, importers, roasters, and retailers are all adding value incrementally, and taking risk that has to be rewarded, that is the only reason for them to sell coffee to us, and they all have to operate those businesses at a profit margin that keeps them in business.

I grew up in a poor part of the US where there are many farmers and ranchers. The cattle ranchers would also love to get the price per pound for their cattle at auction that Morton's steakhouse charges for beef when you go out for 16oz rib-eye dinner. Should a cotton farmer get more money for his crop when a fashion designer uses fabric made from cotton in a $5000 haute couture dress? It is strange to me that so much is written about the the unfairness in coffee for the producers, but I do not hear that about other producers of raw materials and commodities. Why does coffee get so much of this special first world guilt?

I am really in support of the farmers getting a fair share, helping them find stable markets, and for rewarding those that produce superior crops. I am not sure the solution is to turn the market completely vertical, so that the coffee farmer is roasting beans and trying to sell them directly to the consumer.

Sometimes there are other things nobody talks about (other than economic reasons). For example, sometimes corruption, drugs, weapons, politics, stability, etc, break havoc and no information is available. Yet, they could be exponentially more important as cause of economic failure.

It's a great article! Thanks for the link.

Bak Ta Lo wrote: The perishability of roasted coffee is the part that is missed over and over again in these debates and all the hand-wringing about not enough of the coffee dollar pie making it back to the grower. The brokers, wholesalers, importers, roasters, and retailers are all adding value incrementally, and taking risk that has to be rewarded, that is the only reason for them to sell coffee to us, and they all have to operate those businesses at a profit margin that keeps them in business.

You must be kidding. Coffee farmers are different from all of the people you listed, because most of them live in abject poverty. For many, starvation for part of the year is a normal part of their annual cycle.

Bak Ta Lo wrote:It is strange to me that so much is written about the the unfairness in coffee for the producers, but I do not hear that about other producers of raw materials and commodities. Why does coffee get so much of this special first world guilt?

One reason is that coffee, carefully cultivated, harvested and milled, particularly the kind of coffee people on this forum buy, is NOT a commodity. Commodities are fungible; great coffees are not. We want farmers to have incentives to produce great coffee, not anonymous coffee that will get poured into a bladder-lined ship container.

And on the emotional side, I suppose a warm, aromatic cup of coffee produces stronger connections than, say, a block of zinc.

To add to Marshall, I try to be a localvore. I buy all my beef and pay top dollar to a friend up the road, get most of my eggs and poultry locally etc. How can a coffee farmer sell to me? (I have mailed ordered from Hawaii) The small local farmers can.

Marvin

Thanks for the new word today Marshall (fungible). Like it.

Marshall wrote:One reason is that coffee, carefully cultivated, harvested and milled, particularly the kind of coffee people on this forum buy, is NOT a commodity. Commodities are fungible; great coffees are not. We want farmers to have incentives to produce great coffee, not anonymous coffee that will get poured into a bladder-lined ship container.

And on the emotional side, I suppose a warm, aromatic cup of coffee produces a stronger connections than, say, a block of zinc.

Marshall,

No I am not kidding, how does the fact that the farmers are living in poverty change the way markets and economics work? I do not want to sound uncaring to their plight, I am very concerned by it actually, but emotions are not helpful in diagnosing how the markets work to drive pricing. I was speaking about the pure economics of the trade, each layer of the process of moving the crop to the cup adds some value and increases the final cost to the consumer. I never said that all the layers were equal, or that the all benefit equally. The market is pretty efficient in setting the prices, and competition jumps when there are large inefficiencies. And we should continue to try and learn why we have a hard time getting the most money to the best farms, as a result of their work. Are you suggesting that we should require not-for-profit coffee shops that send 100% of their revenue to the farmers as a social support mechanism. This speaks to exactly what the referenced article discussed, the "trade not aid" model. But, if there are issues with governments not letting farmers sell at the best possible price, or if farmers are being robbed of the results of their efforts, that is a separate and even more complicated issue.

You hit the nail on the head on the second point, separating specialty coffee from commodity coffee is the future for getting us more choices and better quality greens. There are lots of people jumping in to this area, I am also looking in to how I can do this for an area I know can produce high quality specialty crops, if the farmer had the ability to sell around the government imposed regulations for selling their crops directly. One example of a success at this are the guys at "Crop to Cup", they are doing some really cool things to link the farmers to the consumers, in a way that makes sense business wise.

I do stand by my point that it seems recently coffee farmers are given more consideration for their plight than the struggling family farmers in the US. Many work their entire live to just make debt payments on farm implements, lots of our wheat and corn farmers struggle tremendously, there are many kids in the US on working farms that go to bed hungry some nights. I lived by and went to school with such kids.

Marvin,

Exactly, how can we get access to the farmers products directly, without their crops getting swallowed up in the wholesale commodity trade. As I said, I just do not think the solution being pursued by the subject of the NYT article is the right way, as he is roasting the beans, and by doing that, basically ruining our chances of getting to try their crop at its best. If he would focus on getting his farmers access to the markets that want high quality specialty greens, they could focus on the crops and not try to master the entire industry vertically.

I am sure some will not try to understand the larger point I am trying make, and continue to react emotionally, feeling that I do not understand the plight of the coffee farmer. But it is exactly the opposite actually, I do want to understand how we can better the plight of the small coffee farmer, and find ways that those like all of us here on H-B can use our passion for coffee to support those hard working farmers and give them the rewards they deserve for producing a crop that is so valuable and important to all of us.

Bak Ta Lo wrote:As I said, I just do not think the solution being pursued by the subject of the NYT article is the right way, as he is roasting the beans, and by doing that, basically ruining our chances of getting to try their crop at its best.

There is a continuum of coffee quality, with freshness being one of several measures. It is not just a line with Hacienda La Esmeralda on one side and Vietnamese robusta on the other. Rugisara (the Ugandan entrepreneur featured in the article) is trying to compete with the coffees on the Sainsbury shelves, not Square Mile's latest boutique grower offering. By those measures, he has plenty of latitude to deliver "fresh" coffee.

I have no idea whether he will succeed, but I applaud the effort and don't think it is doomed before it begins. Now, if you want to talk about the Ethiopian trademarking travesty ....

True Marshall, there is for sure some middle ground available in the market, between super-market branded and specialty coffee from the micro-roaster. I would much rather see people at Tesco grabbing a bag of Rugisara's roasted over a bag from *-$'s. He is for sure innovative, and seems to have the spirit and energy to give it a good run, wish him the best.