Sustained relatively high prices and the looming enforcement of the European deforestation-free law known as EUDR captured headlines throughout the green coffee world this year.
We say “relatively” high prices because — even in this year when coffee prices soared to at least 45-year highs (as of this writing) on the commodities market — they arguably remain too low to produce meaningful long-term change to the value inequity plaguing the coffee industry.
Widespread smallholder farmer poverty, climate change, aging farmer and plant populations, environmental degradation, and continued price volatility all continued on unabated in 2024.
With EUDR now scheduled to come into effect a year from now, the race is on to meet yet another sustainability challenge while meeting the global demand for traceable, drinkable coffee.
Continuing our 2024 Year in Review, here are some of DCN’s top stories on the green coffee industry, loosely presented in two categories: sustainability and opinions; and corporate, market and multi-stakeholder news.
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Sustainability and Opinions
Column: The Shifting Seasons of Coffee Shipments
Six years and what feels like a lifetime ago, I penned a piece for DCN that attempted to explain and visualize typical destination arrival time frames from many coffee regions in the world. I even copied and pasted a large section of the article into my Green Coffee book. Today, the whole thing is starting to look a little wrong to me. So what happened between then and now? The short answer is: everything… read more
Report Highlights Glaring Discrepancies in Coffee Value Distribution
A new economic report shows that while coffee has enough value to ensure profitability for everyone in the supply chain, the current distribution of value heavily favors roasters and direct-to-consumer sellers, often at the expense of coffee farmers… read more
Column: Prices and Weather in Colombia Create Tension Between Conventional and Specialty
The Colombian coffee industry is currently in the middle of its main annual harvest. As the third largest coffee producing nation in the world, achieving a successful harvest for producers is a delicate balancing act. From rainfall at the local level to consumer demand at the global level, most of the variables are beyond the control of growers… read more
Column: Understanding Brazil’s Dual Influence on the Global Coffee Market
Understanding the coffee supply chain is no easy task. It requires considerable experience and dedication. Even then, there are huge gaps in data and ample room for different interpretations of the same information… read more
Column: Don’t Buy Too Much Coffee
An importer will never tell you this, but don’t buy too much coffee… read more
Photo courtesy of Sustainable Harvest.
Sumatra Coffee Farmers See Gains Through Agroforestry and Organic Fertilizer
Like millions of small farmers across Indonesia, Sri Atmiatun’s family has shouldered higher fertilizer prices, cost-of-living hikes, and increasingly extreme weather in recent years… read more
How Shade Coffee Lends Conservation a Hand
Up in the highlands of the Ethiopian plateau grows a tree with bright red fruit that came to profoundly shape morning rituals for people all over the world. Those little fruits — also known as cherries — contain seeds that after harvesting, processing and roasting, turn into coffee beans… read more
Column: Why Are Sustainable Businesses Going Out of Business? And How Can We Change That?
Why are “sustainable” businesses going out of business and how can we change that? A good place to start is with greater transparency. We also need honest recognition that multiple coffee companies and strategies are necessary to create farmer resiliency… read more
Inside a Pioneering Program to Protect Coffee and Birds in Venezuela
Each morning, as Luis Arrieta heads out to begin work on his shade-grown coffee farm, vindication comes in the form of birdsong gushing from the trees, a cacophony of trills and warbles of passerines punctuated by the croaks of the groove-billed toucanet (Aulacorhynchus sulcatus)… read more
Screenshot
Corporate, Market and Multi-Stakeholder News
Labor Violations Alleged in Starbucks and Nestlé Supply Chains in China
Independent field investigations in China’s Yunnan Province found labor violations at coffee farms that supply coffees purchased and certified as sustainable by coffee giants Starbucks and Nestlé, according to a new report from two labor watchdog groups… read more
World Coffee Research Names Private Partners for Six-Year F1 Hybrid Variety Trial
Private companies participating in the new six-year trial phase include U.S. roasters such as Starbucks, Nestlé-owned Blue Bottle Coffee and Counter Culture Coffee, as well as numerous green coffee production and trading companies… read more
An F1 hybrid plant at the time of its first production harvest. Flor Amarilla Research farm in El Salvador, 2019. World Coffee Research press release photo.
Best of Panama Organizers Take Hard Stance Against Infused Coffees
In a statement posted to its website and signed by SCAP President J. Hunter Tedman, the association said it discovered four “infused” coffees submitted to the competition that “were found to be altered from their natural DNA expression, likely with the intent to score higher and win by using foreign additives.”… read more
Luckin Signs Estimated $2.5 Billion Green Coffee Supply MOU with Brazil
In an unprecedented buying spree, Chinese coffee giant Luckin Coffee is committing to purchasing 240,000 tons of green coffee from Brazil between 2025 and 2029… read more
Nespresso Plans $20 Million Spend on DRC Coffees and Sector Development
According to Nespresso, the $20 million pledge will go towards green coffee purchases, including price premiums associated with quality and Nespresso’s in-house sustainability scheme AAA, as well as to projects in coffee-farming communities addressing regenerative farming practices, gender equality, clean water access and healthcare… read more
Nestlé Targets Brazil with New Arabica Variety Called ‘Star 4’
Multinational food giant Nestlé says it has developed a new high-yielding coffee variety called Star 4, while targeting the world’s largest coffee-producing market, Brazil… read more
With USAID Support, JNP Coffee Establishing Burundi Coffee Academy and Dry Mill
The academy is being designed to train to women and young people in coffee skills, while the dry mill will be focused on microlot production and exports to the United States market… read more
GCP: 73% of Coffee from Nine Major Buyers Meets Sustainability Baseline
Approximately 73% of the green coffee purchased by nine of the world’s largest buyers in 2023 met a recognized baseline sustainability standard, according to the latest annual report from the Global Coffee Platform (GCP)… read more
Hawaii Legislature Approves Landmark Coffee Labeling Bill
The bill calls for coffee blends bearing the name of any growing region in the state, such as the famed Kona region, to contain at least 51% coffees from that region by weight, as opposed to the current 10%… read more
Report: Ethiopian Coffee Producers Facing Green Squeeze from EUDR
Ever since European legislators put their stamp on the final draft of the new EU deforestation-free supply chain law (EUDR) in December 2022, organizations in and around the coffee industry have warned of unintended consequences… read more
JDE Peet’s and TechnoServe Launch $15.3 Million Avanza Café Project
According to an announcement from TechnoServe, the initiative will focus on “regenerative agriculture techniques” and coffee farm productivity in Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua… read more
International Women’s Coffee Alliance Launches Vital Impact Fund
“This global fundraising appeal aims to amplify the reach and depth of IWCA’s empowerment programs, directly impacting women, their families and their communities across the coffee industry.”… read more
Ethiopia Launches $20.8 Million Coffee Land Use Program (FOLUR)
Called “Preventing Forest Loss, Promoting Restoration, and Integrating Sustainability into Ethiopia’s Coffee Value Chains & Food Systems,” the project is designed to prevent deforestation, promote reforestation and provide market support for Ethiopian coffee producers… read more
Solidaridad’s Small Farmer Atlas Navigates the Perspectives of Farmers
The farmer-focused international development firm Solidaridad has been working to put the perspectives of small farmers from numerous agricultural sectors on the map — or on the atlas, as it were… read more
WCR Report Outlines Striking Nonconformity in the Coffee Seed Sector
The report shines a light on current activities in the seed sector in five key coffee-producing countries (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru), providing striking results regarding genetic nonconformity at current nursery operations… read more
ICO and UNIDO Outline an Unprecedented Global Coffee Fund
Citing persistent sustainability challenges such as climate change, price volatility and living-income gaps among coffee farmers, the groups are presenting the concept of a “global funding mechanism” that would require participation from industry, financial institutions, impact investors, governments and other stakeholders… read more
ILO Leading $10.8 Million Child Labor in Coffee Project
“The causes of child labor in the coffee supply chain are multi-dimensional and complex,” the ILO said in a recent announcement of the project launch. “Despite a multiplication of due diligence related initiatives, child labor continues to be a salient human rights risk for many businesses.”… read more
The Coffee Farmer Thriving Index Says: Listen to the Farmers
A major report from the social impact assessment firm 60 Decibels found that more than one third of coffee farmers in Uganda reported no profit in the previous year, with 21% reporting financial losses… read more
Honduras Coffee Leaders Launching the Cafexpo Trade Show in 2025
A new national coffee trade show for Honduras called Cafexpo is scheduled to debut in San Pedro Sula in March 2025… read more
Major FAO Report Reveals Hidden Costs of Coffee Production
As coffee prices currently sit at historically high levels on the commodities markets, driven by supply concerns and growing demand, the economic benefits for green coffee producers might seem universally promising… read more
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