Poor Farmer

Single-serve coffee pods are the rage, benefiting harried caffeine addicts, the major specialty-coffee companies and many small coffee farmers. But they also carry a hidden price tag and some environmental costs. By Ángel González Seattle Times February 16, 2014 The way America drinks coffee is changing one cup at a time. But that doesn’t mean it’s changing slowly. Sales of coffee made in single-serve brewing systems, barely noticeable five years ago, now account for more than a quarter of every dollar Americans spend on coffee to drink at home. By 2018, market-research firm Mintel expects consumers to spend nearly as much on coffee pods as they do on bulk coffee. That’s the result of the unparalleled ease of use offered by the likes of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ Keurig K-cups: Push a button, and a high-pressure jet of water pierces a small coffee capsule with a filter. Thirty seconds later, a cup of reasonably good coffee comes out. “The convenienc...

By Bloomberg News November 24, 2013 Phung Thi Huu is embracing the global movement toward sustainable coffee two decades after she first planted the crop and brought her family out of poverty. “Coffee changed my life,” said Huu, a diminutive 53-year-old farmer with calloused hands and weathered skin in the coffee-rich Dak Lak province. “The future is brighter.” The adoption of certified coffee in Vietnam comes as bean prices slumped  35 percent from a March high to 29,600 dong ($1.40) a kilogram on Nov. 7,  the lowest since October 2010 and threatening farmers’ income, data from the  Dak Lak Trade & Tourism Center show. The price was 32,400 dong on Nov. 22.  Photographer: Jerome Ming/Bloomberg She’s among thousands of Vietnamese farmers who benefited from coffee, which enabled her to expand her modest farm, buy family members motorbikes and provide her grandchildren with opportunities. Vietnam, the world’s biggest producer of...

Brent Swails and Oliver Joy CNN November 19, 2013 (CNN) -- In the hills of Burundi, farmers tend their coffee crop. Their livelihoods depend on a good harvest. Coffee in the small central African nation is more than just a hot drink; it's a valuable commodity that props up Burundi's agrarian-based economy. The world of Starbucks baristas and double macchiatos are an alien concept to coffee growers in one of Africa's poorest nations, where 55% of the population earns their livelihood from Arabica beans. Chantal Ka-Hor-Rury, a coffee trader and head of a collective that helps farmers bring their crop to market, is committed to helping Burundi expand its coffee industry. The market is very low but it does not discourage us because when you have a lot to sell you always make a lot of money. "We chose to cultivate coffee because in our country, it's a crop that gives a lot of money," she said. Coffee accounts for 80% of Bu...