inspired by the action of one particular roasting company, Keurig Green Mountain– At the time, actually, I guess they were Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, and now they carry Dr Pepper. So, that is just an example of industry evolution right there. But a group of coffee roasting companies and an importer all came together inspired by the Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ “After the Harvest” video, and all said, “you know? We want to do something together because food insecurity is an issue that affects coffee producers worldwide. Therefore, it’s all of our responsibility. It’s not just for one company or one supply chain. This is pervasive”. It’s really evolved from there to be a much broader example of collaboration to where, now, for the past year or two, we’ve been looking at this region of Jinotega, Nicaragua, and the landscape within that region (more info on pg. 14). What’s next for SCA? KI: We’ve seen a major shift in the dialogue around sustainability to focus more on the economic side of sustainability. So, where 5 years ago it might have been a balance of environmental, or economic, or social, now the producer voice especially is represented by institutions in coffee producing countries by collaborative initiatives of those institutions, like the World Coffee Producer Forum.
So, I think that that’s where we’re going to see a lot of the focus, including the focus of the Specialty Coffee Association, which launched the pricecrisis response initiative in December of 2018 as a response to this need that we see in this shift in focus. And then, for the Coalition, I think the group is going to continue to try to use the SAFE Platform to shift from roaster-led decision making to shared decision making, where the producers and local representatives are the ones who ultimately control the information. What do you think are the benefits of working in a platform like SAFE? KI: What I really like about working with the SAFE platform is that it has convened a group in its partners that is big enough to represent diverse perspectives. It’s not homogenous, it’s not all a group of roasters, or all a group of NGOs, so it’s big enough to be diverse, but it’s small enough that it’s possible to make a decision, arrive at some conclusion, or to start collaborations, maybe with some unlikely collaborators, because people feel comfortable expressing themselves, and asking questions, and being challenged, and taking a step outside of what their typical role would be. And I think that those groups are few and far between. So, SAFE has gotten a good group of people, companies, organizations around the table and I’m excited to see what next ideas can arise.
16 Photo: Olga Cuellar
