Poor Farmer

US Bureau of Labor Statistics September 26, 2013 International Coffee Day is Sunday, September 29. To mark the occasion, this edition of The Editor’s Desk looks at trends in coffee prices over the past decade. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for coffee reached its most recent peak in January 2012. Coffee prices then started declining and were 10 percent lower in August 2013 than in January 2012. The decline in coffee prices in 2012 and 2013 follows a sharp increase in prices in 2011. The CPI for coffee was 21 percent higher in January 2012 than in January 2010. Despite the recent price declines, the CPI for coffee was 38 percent higher in August 2013 than it had been 10 years earlier. Prices for roasted coffee generally have increased more rapidly over the past decade than prices for instant and freeze dried coffee. The CPI for roasted coffee was 41 percent higher in August 2013 than in August 2003. By comparison, the CPI for instant and freeze dried coffee increa...

The EU restored aid earlier this year but not to farms on 'disputed' land – excluding the majority of small coffee growers Ray Mhondera theguardian.com September 24, 2013 Zimbabwe has perfect growing conditions for coffee, once  producing some of the best beans globally. Photograph: Alamy HARARE   - A misty dawn has not yet given way to daylight in Zimbabwe 's eastern highlands. Lenard Moyo, a coffee farmer near Chipinge town, is prising red arabica beans out of their trees and putting them in his bag – as he does every morning during harvest season. "It's hard when it's so cold outside, but we have to pick them early," he said. Zimbabwe's coffee belt has the perfect growing conditions for the beans: high mountain peaks and cool climates, and the country used to be famous for its "super-high-quality" product, slowly sun-dried, and tasting smooth and fruity. In the 1990s it produced some of the best coffe...

By John Otis TIME September 07, 2013 Will the mermaid rescue Juan Valdez? Or will she send the mythical Colombian coffee farmer and his faithful donkey over an Andean mountain cliff? That’s the question Colombians are debating following the Aug. 26 announcement that Seattle-based Starbucks plans to bring its famous green sea nymph logo to Colombia by opening 50 coffee houses over the next five years. Starbucks’ decision comes at a low point for Colombia’s coffee industry. Growers are struggling to recover from massive flooding, diseased trees, diminished yields, cratering international prices and an overvalued Colombian peso that reduces the value of coffee exports. At a Bogotá news conference, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz portrayed his company as part of the solution and noted that Starbucks is already one of the largest buyers of Colombia’s premium washed Arabica beans. But when the first stores open next year, Starbucks may put the squeeze on Colombia’s iconic...

SACSIS September 4, 2013 Although there are almost 125 species of coffee, we only use two species to produce the beverage drink. These are Arabica and Robusta coffee. Arabica is a very special plant. It's a hybrid formed between two different species that came together maybe a million years ago somewhere in a forest in Ethiopia. It was a unique event that happened just once. When it was taken out of Ethiopia to plantations in other parts of the world, Arabica's genetic diversity was greatly diminished, leading to low tolerance to pests and diseases. To address the problem, coffee growers from all over the world must look to Ethiopia for its genetic diversity to ensure that coffee drinkers continue to enjoy the best quality. The problem is that Ethiopia is hugely affected by climate change. Just a one-degree change in temperature will change the taste of coffee completely. See video