Sustainable Sourcing| Agroforestry | Living Incomes | Systems Thinking | Social Innovation | Value Chain Strategy | Regenerative Ag | Inclusive Markets | Social Justice | Future-Proofed Supply Chains
It’s that time of year again, when the coffee glitterati head off to SCA, loaded up with samples and swag. This time, I’m not one of the #Expo-goers. In years past, amidst the wonderful catch up with friends and panels I’ve been fortunate enough to participate in, I’ve noticed an unsettling trend… more and more space for tangential players, with less and less space for coffee-critical coffee actors. And by coffee-critical actors, I of course mean farmers. As the Expo floor becomes crowded with techies, gear heads and accoutrement sellers galore, all the air in the room seems to be sucked up by the coffee consumption experience rather than the production experience— despite the indisputable reality that there is no one without the other (and not in a chicken or egg situation). Meanwhile the lectures are certainly vocabulary-laden around all the things #Specialtycoffee increasingly hangs its hat on. But instead of farmers having a platform to share all that not-so-ironically originate with them it seems academics, NGOs, development agencies, certifiers even downstream companies are now in charge of portraying the origin perspective. It’s clear coffee is willing to give lots of folks a seat at the table. There seems to be plenty of room for more industries and sectors to participate. But if despite the table being bigger and fuller, there’s STILL no space for coffee farmers, then it’s not where I want to be sitting.
Nicolas Schulman
8mo
You articulated right , no room ( literally)for farmers
Jeff Abella
8mo
Thanks Cory for standing up and sharing this.
Richard Mattis
8mo
Totally agree. I will not be attending. 🤨
Andrew Piper
8mo
100% Agree
Kyle Freund
8mo
That's the stuff. Thanks, Cory Gilman.
Coffee Producer/Farmers Project Founder. Direct Trade/ Exporter/ Importer/Women Empowerment/Costa Rica & USA
8moYour elocuent words shine a light on an issue that remains painfully familiar to those of us who participate in the value chain from the farming side and are seen as the bottom of a market structure, instead of the finite foundation it truly is.