Poor Farmer

He’ll be out a job and you’ll be without your daily coffee fix if we all don’t get our heads out of our asses and admit that global warming is real. By Diane Keeney Death and Taxes Mag March 11, 2011 As coffee yields plummet in Colombia due to unusual weather patterns connected to global warming, coffee prices will continue to rise. And maybe, just maybe, when their wallets are emptied and the caffeine withdrawal kicks in, the naysayers and the nihilists will admit that we’ve really done an irrevocable disservice to our planet. Colombia is the largest producer of Arabica coffee in the world and the second largest producer of coffee overall. According to the New York Times, Colombia produced over 12 million 132-pound bags of coffee in 2006, aiming to raise production rates around 2% by 2014. Last year’s production didn’t even make 10 million bags. While the country’s location on the the lush Andes mountains makes Colombia one of the prime regions in Latin America for shade-g...

Commentary: Working with Starbucks is hardly without risk By MarketWatch March 10, 2011 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — A word of advice to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc.: Be careful who you invite over for a cup of coffee. After a tense standoff in the fast-growing world of single-cup brewing, Green Mountain (GMCR 60.58, +16.94, +38.82%) and Starbucks Corp. (SBUX 37.85, +3.31, +9.58%) have joined forces. According to their joint statement, Starbucks will add its powerful brand name to the lineup of coffees and teas available in K-Cups for use in Green Mountain’s Keurig brewing machines. In exchange, Vermont-based Green Mountain gets to place its Keurig single-cup brewers in Starbucks stores, gaining instant access to millions of coffee lovers via thousands of outlets across the planet. This marketing bonanza sent Green Mountain shares soaring as much as 40% Thursday. And to think, less than a month ago Starbucks was making ominous comments about how it intended to crush...

Photo illustration depicts the potential appearance of a Starbucks single-serve cup for Keurig brewers from Green Mountain - MarketWatch Starbucks arch-rival Peet’s Coffee & Tea’s shares drop on the news By Matt Andrejczak and Andria Cheng MarketWatch March 10, 2011 SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — In a deal set to stir up the single-cup coffee brewer market, Starbucks Corp. and Keurig brewer parent Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. said Thursday that Starbucks coffee and its Tazo tea will be sold in Keurig’s K-Cup portion packs. The long-speculated-on deal sent Green Mountain shares (NASDAQ:GMCR) surging 38% as some investors had wondered if Starbucks would sell its own single-cup brewing machine to compete with Green Mountain. Thursday’s deal doesn’t prevent Starbucks from doing so in the future. Seattle-based Starbucks’ shares (NASDAQ:SBUX) advanced 9%. Both stocks traded at 52-week highs. Emeryville, Calif.–based Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. (NASDAQ:PEET) was ...

By Leslie Josephs The Wall Street Journal March 8, 2011 Arabica coffee futures hit a nearly 14-year high, as a pound of unroasted beans fetched nearly as much as a cup of brewed gourmet coffee. Worries that scarce supplies won't be able to keep up with increased demand sent arabica for May delivery up 3.1% to settle at $2.8115 a pound on the IntercontinentalExchange, the highest price since 1997. The front-month contract, for March delivery, ended up 3% at $2.8095 a pound. Bad weather in Central America and Colombia have kept prices high, with Arabica coffee prices rallying more than 46% over the past six months. On Monday, few shipments out of top coffee producer Brazil helped fuel the surge in prices. Shipments have waned because of the Carnival holiday. "There's not too much selling around so that gives it more upside potential," said Rodrigo Costa, an analyst with brokerage Newedge. The International Coffee Organization has said global supplies l...

Highlight: * Weather, global market boosts prices * Buyers turn to other producers regionally By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura Reuters March 7, 2011 KOMOTHAI, Kenya - In Kenya's coffee growing area of Komothai, record prices at auction have farmers dreaming of a better future and driving to improve their crop. Record high commodity prices have rattled finance ministeries in the West, but poor growers see things differently -- especially in Kenya where reforms now mean more profits trickle down to them. Coffee from the local co-operative society fetched $1,011 per 50-kg bag in January, a heady price for any coffee farmer around the world. "Now you can build a house, you can pay school fees, you can buy inputs. Before this, you couldn't do any of that," said Duncan Kimani, 52, pruning excess twigs off bushes with green berries that will be ready for harvest in April. "Now we can live like humans." Kenyan coffee prices have hit records this year -- ...

Brazil, the world's biggest coffee producer, is holding out for even higher prices before releasing stocks the government amassed a year ago, the country's top coffee official told Reuters in comments that could lend fresh support to the biggest rally in 14 years. The per capita consumption of roasted coffee in Brazil reached the historic level of 4.81 kg in 2010, exceeding the 1965 record, according to Brazil's coffee industry association (Abic). The per capita consumption of 4.81 kg is equivalent to almost 81 liters of coffee per person per year. Photograph by: Nacho Doce, Reuters. -  The Ottawa Citizen By Peter Murphy The Ottwa Citizen February 19, 2011 Brazil, the world's biggest coffee producer, is holding out for even higher prices before releasing stocks the government amassed a year ago, the country's top coffee official told Reuters in comments that could lend fresh support to the biggest rally in 14 years. Despite tightening supplies which have ca...

Green Mountain Coffee K-Cups are displayed at the company's visitor center and cafe in Waterbury, Vermont. Photo: Herb Swanson/Bloomberg By Chris Prentice Bloomberg February 18, 2011 Coffee extended a rally to the highest since 1997 on signs that global demand will outstrip production as investors snapped up shares of U.S. retailers including Starbucks Corp. in a bet that sales will increase. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc., the largest U.S. seller of single-serve brewers, trades in New York at 295 times cash flow, more than any company in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, according to Bloomberg data. Arabica-coffee futures have doubled in the past year as adverse global weather slashed supplies including in Brazil, the world’s biggest producer. Consumers are drinking more coffee in the past year as demand has rebounded amid the global economic recovery. Inventories monitored by ICE Futures U.S. have plunged to the lowest since April 2000. Green Mountain shares hav...