10. Rust to Resilience in Nicaragua

Feb 22, 2014
This CRS Coffeelands post is a beautiful verfication of the importance of the kinds of resilience Artisan Coffee Imports and many others in the resilience "camp" seek to encourage and actively support.
http://coffeelands.crs.org/2014/02/391-coffee-leaf-rust-update-nicaragua/

This report from Michael Sheridan and others at Catholic Relief Services (CRS) of the worsening situation for coffee producers in Nicaragua gives a good "360 degree" look at the situation. It's not just the crisis of the coffee-leaf-rust disease, as bad as that is, it's also the problem of 'customer concentration', to borrow a term from manufacturing. With 94% of income coming from coffee, these business people suffer from classic 'one customer, one market' issues. And the lack of crop diversity also reduces food security and dietary diversity.  And it's the problem of low coffee prices. And it's the problem of low productivity per hectare planted with coffee, which reduces income from coffee even when prices are good. And, and, and...

"Whole Farm/Household Livelihood Strategies"
Just when we are overwhelmed with the number and complexity of the problems for Nicaragua's coffee producing communities, Sheridan pulls us back from despair. He names the significant efforts in the past and on-going that are addressing root causes, such as tree renovation programs with disease-resistant plants, long term improvement of natural resources and programs financing crop diversity and kitchen gardens. His parting sentence is the most uplifting and is the point where all of us working on resiliency can heartily join forces with CRS:
 
"we believe that we need to look closely at the coffee production system ... and other sources of income and to develop whole farm/household livelihood strategies that provide sustainable relief for the poverty and vulnerability of these producers."

Here we see the door is open for the ways human ingenuity can help tackle the severe challenges presented by nature and past human errors and mistakes. By feeding the stomachs and the minds of the individuals living and working in Nicaragua, we are sure to find paths of innovation that are sustainable-over-the-long-term.

8. Impact of Microlot Premiums - new research published

Jan. 27, 2014
The "microlots" topic hits several issues that are extremely relevant to resiliency in coffee.  So it is significant that today, Counter Culture Coffee posted Phase II of their research to understand the impact of microlots.

Click here to read their helpful introduction to this phase of the project and click here to see the full report, also posted on Artisan Coffee Imports website. Artisan Coffee Imports assisted with the analysis of the data collected in this phase of their project -- a wonderful collaboration that provided learning for all sides.

Resiliency issues, and reasons why this type of research is important are:
"Direct Traders" claim they are benefiting producers, they even claim they are benefiting producers more than the Fair Trade system. Is there evidence to support it? Do all "direct traders" operate the same way?

Resiliency has to do with bio-diversity. Are there ways incentive systems, like those employed by Virmax and discussed in this report, can be used to encourage bio-diversity and thereby improve producers ability to absorb shocks?

Research issues also came to light with this report:
1. A pilot run of the questionnaire, or even several pilots run with producers could help fine tune the questions. Also, the pilot data (both quantitative and qualitative) could have been assembled so that it was clear which types of analysis the full data (once collected) would enable.

2.  A control group or baseline data would help to verify that the impacts and benefits of the microlot program can be attributed to the microlot program.

3. Cupping data collected on all the coffee included in the study (microlot and the control group) would enable more conclusive insights one which growing practices may be having an impact.


Going Further and Farther With This Research:
There is much more that can be done with the data Counter Culture has collected. Even more could be done if Virmax continues to collaborate and find value in understanding which of their innovative processes are doing the most to improve producer livelihoods. The following are questions that could be pursued in phase III:

Does paying microlot premiums increase the volume (quantity) of 86+ coffee produced in a region? Another way to ask this question is, 'at what level of premium payment, does the premium actually change a producer's decisions on the quantity vs. quality trade-off?'


Does paying incrementally higher premiums for incrementally higher scoring coffees impact the average cup quality of all coffees receiving microlot premiums in a given region? In other words, does a roaster's investment in incentive programs actually "pay off" in terms of creating more higher quality coffees than would otherwise be the case?

Add controls for exogenous factors that occurred over the three years of this study -- price volatility, Federation policies to encourage planting Colombia varieties, etc.

We will look at more of these types of questions in the upcoming blogs.







 

7. How Artisan Got Involved in Counter Culture's Research Project

Jan. 22, 2014

I was honored to be allowed to work with Counter CultureCoffee (CCC) to analyze the data in their study, "Impact of Microlot Premiums on Smallholder Coffee Producers in Southern Colombia: How Premiums Are Invested and Farming Practices Employed." As a coffee importer (www.ArtisanCoffeeImports.com) and a master’s student studying sustainable development for coffee communities (www.csus.msu.edu/), studying the impact of any program designed to benefit coffee producers would be of interest. This one was extra tantalizing for a few reasons:

 

1. I had not yet seen any research on the impact of microlot premiums using parametric (i.e. numerical) data, so this seemed to be ground-breaking. 

2. I myself was very curious to see some rigorous analysis of the assumption that “paying more helps the producers.” When Kim Elena Ionescu lead the roundtable discussion at the Roasters Guild Retreat in August 2013 on “microlot myths”, it was frustrating to me that research results in that workshop were so vague compared to the next workshop. In the following workshop, SCAA’s “coffee scientist” spent two hours walking us through her randomly controlled trial experiments to test the effects of roast degree on coffee taste. My interest was to see impacts on producers investigated with the same care and validity, and here was an opportunity to be part of helping that happen. 

3. The research combined quantitative and qualitative methods in a way that, in my experience so far as a development economist, is rare. However, qualitative research has come a long way in the 20 years since I studied for my first masters degree (in international development). So I was curious to see how the combination could work.

 

4. The data was already collected, cleaned and formatted. It was just waiting in spreadsheets to be analyzed. In other words, much of the hard work of primary research was already accomplished. This meant getting the work into a final report was realistically doable – even within the three month timeframe it would need to be, to fulfill the criteria of a final paper for one of my classes. In other words, timing was perfect.

5. The study was done with a participatory mindset. From the outset, CCC promised to share the results with the producers who participated in the survey. They made good on that promise. This week (as I write), Hannah Popish (from CCC in North Carolina) is in Colombia presenting the findings to the growers in Huila, Cauca and Tolima. And it's not just presenting, it's visiting. Each meeting includes small groups and the intention is to learn as much as it is to share the research results so far.

6. I said at the beginning of the blog I was 'honored' to work with CCC. That deserves an explanation. For me it's an honor because I admire CCC's boldness in reaching for and developing resiliency. They have been instrumental in developing direct trade relationships in Burundi and now Democratic Republic of Congo. Now I learn Tim Hill has worked on iterations of cupping forms to find a method that will more effectively help him communicate with producers about growing quality coffee. I believe CCC is on the Collaboration for Food Security Council and now participating in an innovative collaboration between Food for Farmers, Root Capital and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters to bring focus and resources to battling leaf rust in Latin America. I understand they will also support the 2014 Potato Taste Conference in Kigali, Rwanda. I could go on, but I'll just say that they also have great  coffee. Try some!

7. In case you feel like this is getting to be a bit too boring, reading about the great things CCC has done, don't worry. My critical side will include them, too. Stay tuned...