The coffee grower's revenue challenge

There is an imbalance of power in coffee, a system of wealth inequality that threatens the future of our coffee supply forever. Farmers growing and selling fresh coffee are at the mercy of the Commodity market. No matter how much work they put into exquisite, rare, or delicious coffees, the price they sell it for is out of their control.

Instead, that buying power is controlled by importers and exporters, who are working to buy the cheapest coffees, or coffees outside the Commodity market, at unnegotiable low rates.

The coffee market is volatile. Unpredictability in supply and demand like this force farmers to sell their coffee at a loss of profit. They end up with less money than what they put into their product, and are unable to make a living wage growing coffee.

As a result, farmers are unable to feed their families, send their children to school, or afford basic necessities like decent housing and healthcare. They cannot afford to hire labor, and coffee farms thus experience less maintenance, as well as more vulnerability to climate change-influenced diseases that destroy the crops.

An industry who is responsible for employing nearly 20 million households worldwide is now watching generations of coffee producers retire the trade. Their children see no promise for a secure future in the industry, and are unwilling to continue growing coffee.

The coffee industry is an ecosystem that depends on every living organism to survive. Coffee farmers are at the heart of this, and if this one piece is missing, the system will not survive.

For these reasons, we must give the selling power back to coffee farmers. We must secure a brighter future for generations of farmers to come, as well as the future of our beloved daily beverage.