By Kim Elena Ionescu It is in the best interest of every single one of the millions of people who depend on coffee for a living to protect the future of our industry—yet, few of us feel like it’s our job. Sure, it’s important, and maybe even interesting, but who has the time? As the …
By Hanna Neuschwander Experts agree that climate change poses a significant threat to coffee. But what is being done about it? A panel of industry leaders convened at Re:co Symposium to discuss just how far we’ve come since climate change first appeared on our radar over a decade ago—and just how far we have left …
Greetings! For those of you I haven’t met, please let me introduce myself: my name is Kim Elena Ionescu and I am the Director of Sustainability at the Specialty Coffee Association of America. This year’s SCAA Expo draws near and all the pieces are falling into place, including defining the responsibilities of the volunteers that make this monumental undertaking …
By Alex Morgan, Rainforest Alliance. Contributions from Meredith Taylor, Counter Culture and Alvaro Gaitan, Ph.D. head of Plant Pathology, Cenicafe. Climate change has already made the difficult even more difficult. Coffee farmers around the world are feeling the impacts of these changes, whether through increased frequency of floods or droughts, pest outbreaks, or catastrophic weather …
By Kim Elena Ionescu, SCAA Expo, the biggest event of the year for the specialty coffee community, is a unique opportunity to model our commitment to insuring and improving coffee’s future. In 2016 we will continue hustling to make the event better than ever by both environmental and social measures, all the while recognizing the …
Nominations for SCAA’s Annual Recognition Awards are now open! These prestigious awards will be presented at SCAA Expo featuring Re:co Symposium in Atlanta, GA this upcoming April. We encourage you to nominate a member of the coffee community to be considered for selection by filling out and submitting one of the forms linked below. The deadline to …
The National Coffee Association (NCA) Coffee Summit, held at the end of last month in Austin, Texas, was dedicated to sustainability discussions and digging deeper into key issues for the coffee industry. Participants split their time among activities that included self-directed group discussions, learning exchanges, directed interactive forums, traditional presentations, and more. Session topics included Sustainability Beyond Origin, Single-Serve and its Journey to a …
The specialty coffee supply chain is intricate and complex, consisting of many different and connected parts. Along this chain, coffee is vulnerable to threats that impact not only quality, but also its very existence. Every day, coffee fights for survival, confronted with erratic weather patterns, disease and pests, drought, as well as labor shortages and …
By Kassy Holmes, The Rainforest Alliance In the coastal coffee-growing region of Oaxaca, Mexico, indigenous communities, conservation organizations, coffee traders, and cooperatives have come together to launch an innovative model for combating deforestation, promoting climate-smart coffee production, and fostering resilient livelihoods for farmers already facing the challenges of climate change. Oaxaca once exemplified Mexico’s diversity …
By Hanna Neuschwander, World Coffee Research Deciding which variety of coffee to plant is perhaps the most important decision a farmer will make about his or her farm. It represents an investment of at least 10-15 years, often longer. The stakes are high. Will the variety be productive enough for the farmer to make a …