Poor Farmer

By Beatrice Gachenge Reuters November 29, 201 NAIROBI   (Reuters) - Africa's coffee output could leap by a third within the next five years as farmers scramble to replace mature trees with disease-resistant seeds to cash in on soaring global prices for the beans, a senior industry official said. Poor prices, drought, disease and political instability in major producers such as Ivory Coast have led to neglect of coffee farms, while some farmers ditched the commodity in favour of planting staple foods such as maize. But Denis Seudieu, chief economist at the International Coffee Organisation, told Reuters that countries like Uganda, Kenya, Cameroon and Tanzania have come up with hardier seedlings that produce higher yields, and are reaching out to new markets. "If major producing countries aggressively implement and rehabilitate the coffee sector by supporting and trickling benefits to farmers, we are optimistic in five years production will increase by ...

By Grace Soong China Post November 27, 2011 The China Post--For the first time in history, coffee beans native to Honduras are packaged in Taiwanese creativity, and together the two nations will challenge the international coffee market, as announced at the beverage exhibition in the Taipei World Trade Center (TWTC), yesterday. Set up in the center of the TWTC Hall 1 is a special Central America coffee-themed booth, where the five major Central American coffee producers — El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama — demonstrate their ambition to promote their native flavors to the world. Especially unique to this year's Taipei Tea, Coffee, and Alcohol Exhibition (2011 台北茗茶 ˙ 咖啡 暨美酒展 ) is the newly revealed flavorful cooperation between Taiwan and Honduras: the best coffee beans from six regions of Honduras are packed in Taiwan-designed packages, and will be available in five major airports in Honduras. “Our coffee beans are of highest value in t...

By William Neuman The New York Times November 23, 2011 Rink Dickinson, president of Equal Exchange, a pioneer importer of  fair trade coffee, chocolate, tea and bananas.  Mr. Dickinson called the move by Fair Trade USA a "betrayal." A tempest in a coffee pot is bubbling in the world of “fair trade,” the socially responsible food movement that seeks to lift farmers in the developing world out of poverty by offering them a premium for crops like coffee, cocoa and bananas. And the fight will soon reach your local Starbucks, Wal-Mart and Whole Foods. Fair Trade USA, the movement’s leading advocate in the United States, angered critics by saying it would cut its ties at year’s end with the main international fair trade group and make far-reaching changes in the sorts of products that get its seal of approval. The changes include giving the fair trade designation to coffee from large plantations, which were previously barred in favor of small farms. Th...

By Marvin G. Perez Bloomberg November 22, 2011  Coffee’s biggest slump in three years may be ending as weather damages crops from Colombia to Indonesia, reducing U.S. inventories to the lowest since 2000 just as Kraft Foods Inc. and J.M. Smucker Co. cut prices. Stockpiles in warehouses monitored by ICE Futures U.S. fell 16 percent since December, declining for a fourth year, exchange data show. Arabica-coffee futures, already poised for the highest annual average price on record, may rise 14 percent to $2.71 a pound by March, according to the average estimate of 13 traders and analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Prices rallied 7.8 percent from a nine-month low in October as the heaviest rains in two decades damaged Central American plantations, Colombia reported a 19 percent drop in output last month, while exports slowed from Brazil, the world’s top grower. The London-based International Coffee Organization already expects production of arabica,...

Ban brings total prohibited from trading in coffee to 57 in the last month By Elleni Araya Addis Fortune November 20, 2011 The Ministry of Trade has banned 16 coffee exporters from trading on the trading floor of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX) on Wednesday, November 8, 2011, for failure to have their stocks audited by it. The banned individuals and companies include Terefe Hailu (PhD), Kaf International, AbdulKedir Mohammad Ali, and Abdu Ali. Most of the banned traders are known for registering a high volume of trade in the exchange, according to officials from MOT.  A letter was sent to the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange Authority (ECEA), with the list of the banned traders, not to allow them from buying or selling on the trading floor for unspecified time. The ban only prevents the traders from buying coffee on the trading floor. It does not stop them from either buying or selling other commodities. This ban brings the total of banned exporters i...

By Allan Odhiambo Business Daily Africa November 20  2011  A farmer picks her coffee crop. Photo: Courtesy of Business Daily.  Some millers and roasters could be investigated for allegedly engaging in illegal dealings that are fuelling theft of beans in coffee growing areas across the country. The industry regulator, the Coffee Board of Kenya, said last Thursday if found guilty the millers and roasters would be stripped of their licences. “We have received claims of some millers and roasters allegedly engaging in dealings that are causing theft of coffee and we have forwarded the information to the relevant arms of government for action,” the board’s managing director, Loise Njeru, told a media briefing in Nairobi. Cases of theft and illegal dealing in the commodity have been on climb since the 2004/05 crop season, coinciding with a steady increase in prices that has persisted into this year. “Theft of coffee has become very serious especially a...

By Scott Shalaway Pittsburg Post Gazette November 20, 2011 Next time you're grocery shopping, try finding a bag of "environmentally friendly" coffee. But don't be fooled by deceptive packaging. Just because a bag has an image of a bird on it doesn't mean it's "green." Coffee drinking birders and conservationists can make a difference by purchasing coffee that is certified organic and "bird-friendly." Unfortunately these certifications can be confusing. The Smithsonian Institution's Migratory Bird Center's certification process is the gold standard. Begun in 1995 and based on years of scientific research, SMBC developed strict criteria for evaluating shade coffee farms. Independent third-party inspectors evaluate coffee farms. Only those that meet SMBC standards and are certified "organic" by the U.S. Department of Agriculture are eligible for bird friendly certification. Roasters that have earned the Bi...

Good Magazine November 16, 2011 Picture: Courtesy of Good Magazine On a rainy Wednesday afternoon in Venice, California, Dan Kougan spreads out three shot glasses in front of a curious audience. The champagne-colored liquid bubbling on the left is a homemade hops soda. The creamy, tan shot in the middle is a barley-chocolate malt topped with a tuft of steamed milk. And the chestnut-hued beverage on the right, the raison d’être of this whole ordeal, gives off the unmistakable scent of fresh espresso, extracted from the highest-quality coffee beans the developing world has to offer. “Thanks, Dan, I’m really excited!” says Elaine Levia. She smiles as she eyes the Flight of Three—the name given to the triptych of shot glasses on the glass-top bar before her. “Do you have drinking instructions?” she asks. Of course he does. For a month, Kougan has been planning the details of each beverage for his hops-themed menu. It’s his week to curate the Slow Bar, the backspace of...