February 11, 2013

Traveling for work to remote coffeelands amongst different producer cultures can sometimes be solitary. Over the last four trips to origin countries, I felt the desire to share the experiences in a more nuanced way. My hope is to continue to best be able to bring the voices of producers and their communities to the greater coffee community and the community of those that support me in the work that I believe in every day.

My hope for this blog is that it is a place for some deeper analysis, for sharing, and for connecting. Fair warning – this first entry is a little long since some material has been percolating for awhile. More conciseness to come! And, I truly encourage any feedback or commentary that may be jogged through reading. While the idea for starting a blog has been building for some time, the final impetus was this most recent trip to Nicaragua. From January 24-Feb 2 Counter Culture travelled on their annual Origin Field Lab with eleven baristas and coffee shop owners that serve Counter Culture coffee. I was so inspired by the group that came and being still new to the coffee industry myself, I felt we were all in it together. Over the course of the week, watching us all contextualize and share something that to this point I had experienced alone or with very few others was incredibly rewarding. In addition, I was filled with a different sort of pride – the sort of full circle that the coffee supply chain was making for them was happening for me as well, only in reverse. I was connecting with those serving, compassionately and competently, the fruits of the producers’ labors with whom I was in continual communication.

After eight months as a coffee buyer’s agent, I find the more I see and think I know, the more “it depends” becomes the classic answer to most everything. In particular, the variability in approaches to the following: - how coffee pickers are paid - on farm practices (i.e. picking, fermenting, varieties planted) - Cooperative structures and management - Coffee as part of local/national economies - is coffee working as a livelihood for people? If not, what are they diversifying with? These are topics I hope to address more in depth as the blog grows.

This trip in particular, due to the large impact of the leaf rust disease on the volume of the coffee harvest, I found myself realizing in a different way how precarious it can be for producers to be dependent on this crop. A crop that is at the mercy of its environment and a 2 to 7 year cycle in which it can be reproductive when pruning or replanting occurs. As business partners, we are constantly examining what it means to help pay people a price that allows for a sustainable livelihood amidst these circumstances.

My own path as an advocate of social justice with social work training continues to push me to understand how the moving pieces fit within the bigger picture. How can I be simultaneously realistic (i.e. yes coffee producers the world over are truly living on less than we do in the U.S.A.), and not operate from guilt (an emotion that I have come to recognize as a starting point but not a long term productive motivator) and instead, be a part of moving the whole paradigm forward. Questions that remain for me include – does the economic stability achieved through the sale of green coffee truly do something for righting inequalities or does it do so only if roasters and other entities (NGOs and governments) are committed to addressing other issues such as education, food security, and health.

After the week with the group, I stayed another few days with the cooperative, Cinco de Junio. Mostly, I followed their lead and visited with producers that were part of Fredman’s plan for the day already. As Clarissa, an employee of the cooperative said, “the fact that you are just integrating yourself into the daily operations means that we aren’t putting on a show for you. This is very real, this is what we do every day.” To me this sense of trust and pride is indicative of the solid, healthy relationships we are able to build, the way we do business that sets us apart.

This trip I recognized in a different way that part of what I appreciate about working with producers and cooperatives is their connection to the land. I think in part I was able to see it differently in Nicaragua than other trips because I was alone with the cooperative representatives as opposed to being with another coworker as well. Thus, I was able to soak up and connect to their experience of the experience in a different way.

On our five or six hour winding hike through the mountain range, Fredman and our other companion Anastasio must have stopped at least ten times to point out a town or school or mill or neighborhood across the vista from where we were. They were so intimately aware what the dips and tree lines and colors denoted. I could no more stand in my back yard or on top of a hill nearby and point out a variety of towns than successfully communicate in Afrikaans. But, they know, and they are excited to show you and to express their sense of awe at what their town has to offer.

As I settle back into my daily routine in the states, I will continue to mull over each of our pieces as parts of the greater whole in this coffee industry, cheesy as that may be. And, I am incredibly grateful to now be extending the conversation outside the confines of my own head. Here’s hoping that this space can be an interactive one, one where we can sort through challenging topics together and share the joys involved in this complex supply chain. As Fredman said to me when I asked him why he got into coffee “Do you see anyone coming here to check out our yuccas? To check out our cheese? Nope. But they sure do come from all over to see the coffee plants and the people that grow them.” Yes, Fredman, they do.