Mostly lost last week amid all the excitement of Re:co Atlanta and The SCAA Event last week was the release of “A Blueprint for Farmworker Inclusion.” Download the publication here, and read on for additional context.
The SCAA White Paper Series
Since 2013, I have served as a volunteer on the SCAA Sustainability Council. In recent years, the Council has released a series of issue briefs on what we call “critical issues at origin.” The first addressed the issue of hunger, the second, gender equality. A fourth white paper, on water security, is due out soon.
A Blueprint for Farmworker Inclusion in the Coffeelands
The publication provides valuable insight into farm labor in the coffee sector. It details the risks to brand, supply and compliance related to farmworkers in coffee supply chains, as well as the opportunities for value creation and social impact. And it advances four recommendations for companies that wish to move toward farmworker inclusion:
- Map your supply chains.
- Establish and apply standards.
- Engage with policy.
- Build new business models.
For each recommendation, the paper offers a case study of a company or country worthy of the consideration of the specialty coffee community.
I had the distinct pleasure of working on this publication over the past 11 months with the other members of the Sustainability Council’s Farmworker Committee, four formidable coffee professionals deeply committed to farmworker inclusion and empowerment: SCAA Director of Sustainability Kim Elena Ionescu, Expocafé Sustainability Director Angela Pelaez, Fair Trade USA Director of Coffee Supply Ben Corey-Moran and UTZ Business Development Director for North America Miguel Zamora.
Michael Sheridan
Michael Sheridan is the Director of Sourcing and Shared Value at Intelligentsia Coffee. He also orchestrates the Extraordinary Coffee Workshop (ECW), an annual supply chain summit that convenes Intelligentsia’s Direct Trade partners from around the world. Prior to joining Intelligentsia, Sheridan led coffee programming for the international development agency CRS for more than a decade. He is a member of the SCA’s Sustainability Center Advisory Council, and has served as a volunteer advisor to the industry on sustainability issues since 2012.
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