POLICY AND CERTIFICATIONS

This paper reviews (1) perspective analysis of sustainable coffee certifications, (2) analysis of Indonesia coffee industry, and (3) strategy formulation in improving practices and accountability of Indonesia coffee development in global supply chains. There is evidence for a range of social, economic, and environmental benefits of certification. These certifications have the potential to create value for smallholders, as certain certified coffee carries a market premium. In order to meet market demand, coffee farmers have had to adapt a good farming practices to qualify for certification.

This work analyzes the impact of consumer habits (such as leaving the novel system in standby mode) and phantom electricity consumption on the environmental impact of the system, in addition to the brewing systems themselves. The TRACI (Tool for Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts) suite is utilized to define the impact categories for the analysis, providing a holistic view. The SimaPro software tool is utilized along with multiple databases to enable the analysis.

The configurations of global value chains and production networks are constantly changing, leading to new trajectories and geographical distributions of value creation and capture. In this article, we offer a 40-year evolutionary perspective on power and governance in the global coffee value chain and production network. We identify three distinct phases that are characterised by different power dynamics, governance setups and distributional configurations. We find that the kinds of power exercised along the coffee chain have changed, but also that the underlying power inequities between Northern buyers and Southern producers have remained fundamentally unaltered.

This research has been written for The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and it focuses on how the topic of waste management can be used as an opportunity rather than a threat. In fact, according to the article, this is an industry of 10+billion USD, where innovation comes as an opportunity to develop benefits for the industry. The main catalysts for such a shift reside in the technology engagement especially on the digital aspect of it, and in the shift of the final consumer?s preferences that will eventually become more oriented towards recycling and recycled products/policies. The outcomes that derive from such evolution are diverse and include: enhanced user experience, products that are crafted to meet the individual user?s needs and gather insights from them, a systematic enhancement of the brand loyalty form the final consumer, better and optimized operations that lead to an ultimate cost saving structure. The study maps 69 reuse examples generated by the study of 100 cases, with the contribution of more than 50 experts. This article can be interesting for anyone in the industry who wants to have an easy to ready and detailed guide on reuse and recycle critical topics.

Coffee growers’ organizations and organic coffee farming constitute spaces in which the process of building sustainability in the peasant context takes place. This paper aims to identify the structural variables that limit or enhance the life aspirations of organic coffee growers in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas. A participatory workshop was held with women and men from three age groups. The coffee growers perceive that the conflicts that impede achieving their life aspirations are unfavorable public policies and the loss of knowledge in coffee farming, which have a great impact on family health, migration and the availability of economic resources for productive activities. Strengths and weaknesses are observed in a different way; for example, men perceive in the organization a space to develop their potentialities, while women focus on the community and the household.

Guatemalan coffee production is not recovering as expected from the rust outbreak of 2012, and combined with depressed international prices, continues to push farmers out of the coffee business. Production for MY2018 closed at 3.43 million bags, down 10 percent from the previous estimate. MY2019 coffee production is estimated at 3.39 million bags, down 15 percent from last year’s forecast and it is forecast to remain stable in MY2020. Farmers are struggling to make a living from coffee. Efforts to support coffee farmers include the coffee-fund trust extension, strengthening coffee cooperatives and associations to export directly to specialty coffee buyers, and promotion of domestic sales using a marketing strategy for tourists.

Through interviews with smallholder farming households, representing roughly 25% of the members of Campesinos Ecológicos de la Sierra Madre de Chiapas (CESMACH) in Mexico, this study focuses on the characteristics, strategies, and outcomes of livelihood diversification of smallholder farmers, and represents the first phase of a three year research project.

Coffee is a significant source of income for many of these households, and over 70% of respondents reported at least one month of food insecurity.

This study shows that diversification can help with farmer food security and improve livelihoods, however, this is not a strategy that can necessarily be implemented broadly to all smallholder producers. It is important that more research is done to examine the factors (social, economic, ecological, political, etc.) that affect farmers’ ability to diversify their livelihoods.

This paper suggests that sustainable livelihoods for smallholder farmers could be achieved through the collaboration between ‘farmers, academics, policy-makers, and the coffee industry’.

What if instead of offering rural, smallholder farmers training or equipment, we simply gave them cash? No strings attached capital to invest as they chose, perhaps to grow their agricultural output, or perhaps to prioritize other needs like housing or an alternate income generation scheme in a lean season? This is the core question that, in 2016, motivated a partnership between Benckiser Stiftung Zukunft (BSZ) and GiveDirectly in Eastern Uganda. We aligned on a dual objective of delivering unconditional grants to extremely poor communities where coffee farming was common, while also advancing a research agenda to understand with more specificity, the impacts of cash on coffee farmers themselves. Through this study, we transferred approximately $1,000 to 3,415 households via mobile wallets, while conducting a randomized impact evaluation and standard program monitoring in parallel. Excluding costs of the evaluation itself, cash transfers made up 80% of the total budget. 99.8% of recipients reported receiving their transfers, and less than 1% of total transferred value was reported as lost to theft or bribery.

This research article assesses the role of women in coffee production in Ulubelu, a coffee producing area in Lampung, Indonesia. The aim of this study is to understand the different condition between women and men in this coffee producing area. Moreover, the article assesses the collective action undertaken by different female farmers in the area as a possible opportunity for social entrepreneurship and improvement of gender equity. The authors’ methodology entailed direct observations of female farmers during both house and farm management and deep one-to-one interviews, where women were open to sharing their experience regarding their position in domestic and farming areas. Results confirmed a level of inequality between men and women. The latter don’t have the opportunity to take part in the decision-making of the farm, they don’t have land ownership, they have poor representation in farming institutions and culture plays a relevant role in affecting the division of labour. However, the authors were also able to find a particular engagement of women connected with social entrepreneurship opportunities in the sector, creating and participating to female organizations, creating other professional opportunities and increasing the economic value of coffee through upgrading strategies in the area. This article is particularly interesting for coffee professionals active in Indonesia, gender experts and coffee association active in the Lampung province.

This research article demonstrates the application of technology roadmapping architecture with an indigenous coffee community in Guerrero (Mexico). According to the authors, technology is now embedded in our daily activities and, therefore, its integration will be always more common in agriculture and coffee production. However, the application of tech solutions often happens without taking into consideration the needs of the beneficiaries, resulting in unsuccessful adoption rate. This is why Contreras-Medina et al. explain the application of technology roadmapping architecture, a strategy which not only allows researchers and/or project managers to apply technology according to what they think the community needs but, in fact, focusing on the perceived needs of the farmers and integrating them to economic, environmental and social needs. By applying this process in Guerrero, the authors state the importance of including beneficiaries in the decision-making process and the methodology to make this happen. This research article is particularly interesting for the coffee actors involved technology application and sustainable development project implementation at origin.

The authors of this paper examine two key services provided by nature, pest control by birds and pollination by bees. They first examine the services themselves and they use data to try and give a dollar value to the services provided. Then, they examine how coffee will likely change as the climate changes, as well as how climate change might impact bird species and the Coffee Berry Borer. They also examine how climate change might harm pollinator species like native and non-native bees. The ultimate conclusions include paying farmers and educating them to preserve their forested lands, use fewer pesticides, preserve soils, and use shade trees. Readers interested in agricultural ecosystems and climate change will find this article interesting.

India has been ranking among top seven producers of coffee in the world, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu being the major coffee producing states in the country. However, there has been a consistent fluctuation in the production in the recent years across the states due to changing climate conditions. The paper aims to examine the trends in planted area under coffee, bearing area under coffee, production and productivity of coffee in India by using compound growth rate analysis with the 18 years? time series data. It also analyses the area and productivity effect as preliminary determinants of coffee production. The major issues and challenges relating to production and productivity of coffee have also been dealt with. Concluding remarks includes some of the initiatives taken by the Coffee Board (a nodal agency for coffee sector in India) for augmenting the overall coffee production and its consistency.

Global warming, deforestation, disease and pests are contributing to the decline, and scientists warn that without conservation, monitoring and seed preservation measures, one of the world’s most popular drinks could become a thing of the past. Beyond the environmental implications, coffee is a $70-billion-a-year industry that is supplied mostly by small-scale farms in parts of Africa and Latin America. Not only is the supply chain in danger, but so are the livelihoods of the estimated 25 million farmers who sustain themselves by growing coffee. In addition, countries that rely on coffee as a major sector of the economy could see a significant decrease in their gross domestic product numbers year after year. “Make no mistake,” former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz told Time magazine last year, “climate change is going to play a bigger role in affecting the quality and integrity of coffee.”

Wild coffee species are critical for coffee crop development and, thus, for the sustainability of global coffee production. Despite this fact, the extinction risk and conservation priority status of the world’s coffee species are poorly known. Applying IUCN Red List of Threatened Species criteria to all (124) wild coffee species, we undertook a gap analysis for germplasm collections and protected areas and devised a crop wild relative (CWR) priority system. We found that at least 60% of all coffee species are threatened with extinction, 45% are not held in any germplasm collection, and 28% are not known to occur in any protected area. Existing conservation measures, including those for key coffee CWRs, are inadequate. We propose that wild coffee species are extinction sensitive, especially in an era of accelerated climate change.

Fairtrade certification aims at transferring wealth from the consumer to the farmer; however, coffee passes through many hands before reaching final consumers. Bringing together retail, wholesale, and stock market data, this study estimates how much more consumers are paying for Fairtrade-certified coffee in US supermarkets and finds estimates around $1 per lb. I then assess how this price premium is split between the different stages of the value chain: most of the premium goes to the roaster’s profit margin, while the retailer surprisingly makes smaller absolute profits on Fairtrade-certified coffee, compared to conventional coffee. The coffee farmer receives about a fifth of the price premium paid by the consumer, but it is unclear how much of this (quantity-dependent) benefit goes toward the payment of (quantity-independent) license fees.