Critical Issues at Origin | Organizational Capacity Building: Key to Long-term Sustainability
By Warren E. Armstrong The SCAA Sustainability Council serves as a “think tank” for sustainability–related ideas and as a liaison to other industry, professional and NGO organizations. As part of its work, the Council has defined several critical issues at origin to promote the long-term livelihood interests for a quality coffee value chain. A quality …
Corporate Social Responsibility: The Role and Reasons for Business Involvement in Sustainable Development
By Tracy Ging, Deputy Executive Director, SCAA Corporate Social Responsibility is defined as the voluntary commitment of businesses to include in their corporate practices economic, social, and environmental criteria and actions, which are above and beyond legislative requirements and related to a broader range of stakeholders—everyone influenced by their activities. When we …
Creating a Global Dialogue via the Culture of Coffee
Story by Majka Burhardt Photos by Travis Horn/Coffee Story Ethiopia Coffee can erase a famine. Agree? Disagree? Wonder just how literally I mean for that statement to be? How about this one: Coffee can create greater global understanding. If you’re reading this, you’re involved with coffee. If more than one billion cups of coffee are …
Why Does Shade Matter?
By Emma Sage, Coffee Science Manager, SCAA As the specialty coffee industry grows more concerned with sustainable practices at origin, we often find ourselves in conversations about shade-grown coffee. No one will argue that shade-grown coffee is less sustainable than growing coffee in full sun plantations, but what scientific information exists to support …
Addressing Hunger in the Coffeelands: The Next Great Sustainability Challenge in Specialty Coffee
By Michael Sheridan Over the past few years, I have had the privilege of working with smallholder coffee farmers in Central and South America as a project manager for Catholic Relief Services (CRS). Our projects have helped farmers increase coffee productivity, improve coffee quality and raise coffee incomes, but one thing they haven’t done is eradicate …
Lower Impact Cafés: Simple Steps to Save Now & Contribute to Broader Mitigation Goals
By Tracy Ging, Deputy Executive Director, SCAA Feeling the Effects There is an axiom, you cannot manage what you cannot measure. Without hard data, there is a tendency to gravitate to what is in front of us, the more visible. Related to climate change, what has been abundantly visible the last …
Responding to Climate Change: Building Community-Based Reliance
by Alexandra Katona-Carroll, on behalf of the Sustainability Council of SCAA In partnership with Dukunde Kawa Cooperative, PROGRESO, REDI and Thanksgiving Coffee Company This year, the SCAA’s Sustainability Council is proud to showcase the 2012 Sustainability Award project winner, Responding to Climate Change: Building Community-Based Reliance. The project focuses on sustaining the production of high quality …
Expanding Our Understanding of Sustainability: What We Can Learn from the Retail Food Industry about Employee Wellness
By Samantha Veide As members of the coffee industry we have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to consider our impact on local communities and workplaces, as well as the communities from which we source coffee. Tracy Ging, deputy executive director of the SCAA, asks a key question, “We’ve spent a lot of valuable time talking about how …
The Trouble with Cups
By Chad Trewick As a specialty coffee industry we have a hot cup problem, a great big cup problem. Many estimates cite as much as 90 percent of our customers leave our shops with cup in hand to be disposed at a final destination. As a result, there is much urgency to do right by …
SCAA Quarterly Sector Report for January – March 2012
If you are a specialty coffee retailer or roaster-retailer, we kindly request your participation in the following survey: CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE Your responses are requested by this Friday, April 13, 2012. Would you like to receive a complimentary copy of the SCAA Quarterly Sector Report? Your participation in this survey will ensure you a …
Portfolio | Issue No. 2 | Travel
Natvia Are you a barista, a roaster, café owner or simply a coffee lover and dying to be in Vienna for the World’s Barista Championship? Natvia is giving away 8 return flights, accommodations and a chance to hangout backstage with the champions from around the world. All you need to do is go to www.sendmetovienna.com …
Portfolio | Issue No. 2 | Happenings
HAPPENINGS COTECA is the Global Industry Expo for the coffee, tea and cocoa business. It will be held at the Hamburg Fair site from September 20 to 22, 2012 and is Europe’s first trade show for coffee, tea and cocoa, covering the complete process chain from raw material to finished product. The International Trade Show …