Poor Farmer

Companies are turning to exploration to ensure future coffee supplies because production has leveled off even as demand has increased, causing coffee-bean prices to quadruple since 2001. The Texas A&M University agronomist, Tim Schilling, heads World Coffee Research financed by Folgers coffee maker  J.M. Smucker  Co.,  Peet's Coffee & Tea  Inc. and others. The group's goal is to expand the global coffee crop's tiny gene pool.    ---   The Indiana Jones of Coffee: Companies Go Deep Into Africa in Search of Perfect Bean By Miguel Bustillo and Solomon Moore The Wall Street Journal July 18, 2012 Tim Schilling, a Texas A&M agronomist, notes the GPS location of an Arabica coffee plant growing in a small village in the Boma mountains.  Photo: Specialty Coffee Association of America, courtesy of WSJ BOMA, South Sudan—Tim Schilling trudged through the African wilderness, trailing a barefoot tribeswoman named ...

This is my personal favorite news of the week and perhaps a fascinating opportunity for a patriot coffee aficionado: to get paid up to $68,784 to do what you love to do while serving your country?!  - Wondwossen --- By David Pugliese The Ottawa Citizen July 18, 2012 Wanted: One coffee corporal. The Canadian military, which has a number of challenging jobs for those in uniform, has just posted details for applicants who want to fill the role of a caffeine commando. The job posting is actually for a clerk at the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School at the Saint-Jean Garrison in Quebec. But the main duties will be to make coffee. According to the job posting, the successful applicant will “plan and prepare coffee orders, efficiently control the inventory and services of the coffee machines, gather all the money collected from the coffee machines and accordingly make the deposits to the bank.” The applicant will also oversee setting up the co...