Wrapping up Colombia research

Two weeks ago I was in Colombia, covering a serious amount of distance as I talked with five groups of producers, totaling 101 total, to share the results of the study on microlot premiums and quality coffee practices that they participated in with Virmax and Counter Culture in January and February of 2014. I was of course involved with regular coffee buyer’s agent tasks toward the end of the week as well but I wanted to share a few more detailed thoughts on this piece of doing the microlot research.

(This was the group at the 3rd meeting of sharing research results in Pitalito).

Though as I continually told the producers, I believe this type of research continues to generate more questions than answers and could go a number of different directions, here are some thoughts I’ve come to hold as true: - Participatory research is where it’s at. Why? Because it is research at it’s most meaningful. At it’s least exciting it is sharing results with participants. At it’s most incredible, it is involving them in each step – from initial research question development, to survey tool construction, to presenting results. And, it is an educational and, though the concept is overused, capacity building opportunity - participants can hear how others responded, to learn what a larger cross section of their compatriots are doing and can begin to draw their own analysis and conclusions.

- I want to get my hands on as much cost of production research in small scale coffee farming as I possibly can The desire and necessity for assigning real numbers to these costs is felt across multiple producer groups in multiple countries. I know folks like Michael Sheridan with Catholic Relief Services and Ben Corey Moran now with Fair Trade USA are working on similar initiatives within the supply chain – thorough analyses to be able to communicate to the industry what fair pricing would really tangibly look like in different contexts. For me the question remains, can we do this in a unified, transparent way that can best serve producers, importers, exporters, roasters, and consumers alike. Which gets at the next thought…

- Over the last two years, myself, my company and I others in the industry have come to see the value in this type of research. For me the question remains – how do we maintain the momentum if we want to? And how do we define the “we?” In our sphere we continue to partner with local universities, good links and sources of energy. We continue to do coalition work in certain topic areas. Yet I am still left with the feeling of “what next” and “with whom?” I am curious to see what some of the ripple effects and reactions to the research may be. And, I also know (though I have to remind myself every day) that greater change and analysis of systems takes time and I have to be patient.

(Parabolic coffee drier and the Colombian countryside).

I just finished breakfast in Guatemala city at the start of a two week stint I’ll be doing here. It occurred to me that in a lot of ways this job, the travel part at least, always feels a little like getting your sea legs back – remembering how to be alone in foreign places, trusting your instincts, reading people and asking the right questions.

I’ll likely be back two more times this spring and I am excited for the opportunity to dig into one place and better understand new and old purchasing relationships we have here. Online community – I’ll be looking to you as a space to bounce ideas around – don’t be shy!

And if you haven't seen the flickr sets yet from the trip you can find them here and here.