Farmers Direct - a healthy future for coffee
Delen
More and more often, coffee is marketed as coming directly from the farmer. At Specialty Coffee, this is gradually becoming the norm. Not only is traceability important, but also the fact that the coffee reaches the roastery directly from the coffee farmer without intermediaries.
This is, of course, great information. And it is also nice that the coffee farmer benefits from it. It makes your cup of coffee feel even better. But why is it so important that the coffee farmer receives more for their product?
Higher returns for the farmer
Everyone wants the coffee farmer to earn enough. But what is enough? Enough to live on? Or enough to invest in a sustainable future for coffee?
Coffee farming faces a major challenge in the coming years and decades: demand for coffee continues to increase, but coffee yields are disappointing year after year due to droughts, cold weather, etc. - in short: due to climate change.
While some farmers could previously hire dozens of seasonal workers because there was so much work during the harvest season, they now often have to do it alone. So little coffee is produced from the coffee bushes.
Sustainability
To make plantations more sustainable, farmers are forced to invest, even though yields are very low. Investments are needed to provide the plantation with shade trees, such as avocado trees, to protect the coffee bushes from the sun. These shade trees often generate additional income. Investments are also needed to purchase new, more drought-resistant bushes.
By purchasing directly from the farmer, a farmer receives more for their coffee beans, allowing them to work on their future, often through a cooperative.
Coffee traders buy beans from farmers to sell them at a profit. This drives down the price for the coffee farmer.
Furthermore, intermediaries often work with long-term contracts, and the farmer continues to earn little for a long time, even when market prices have already risen.
By bypassing these intermediaries, there is a higher margin for the coffee farmer.
All coffee directly from the farmer
To promote direct coffee trade, we are working towards providing our entire range with the Farmers Direct label in the future, encouraging our customers to help ensure a good future for coffee. This already applies to a number of Single Estates (coffee from a single origin). We are increasingly incorporating these coffees into our blends and hope to soon be able to source them entirely through direct trade. And that is quite special and unique.
Blends sometimes consist of as many as 8 different types of coffee. Each coffee in such a blend adds something that creates a perfect balance in the coffee. Most people drink blended coffee because it is the most popular.
To be able to give a blend the Farmers Direct label, every individual type of coffee in that blend must be sourced directly from the coffee farmer or cooperative. Good contacts are therefore needed all over the (coffee) world to source the right coffees.
Some Farmers Direct varieties we already have:
Some varieties in our range are already partially Farmers Direct
