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This is a debate which heated up in Denmark and other Nordic countries in pace with the dry and warm weather as farmers lost a great deal of money on the drought last year. Likewise, the record low market price for coffee in 2018 became a warning bell; it made it clear, that if we’re not actively doing something to make a change in our end of the world, to secure the coffee farmers a higher price for their product, it will be the end of good coffee as we know it, since it will only be profitable to grow the low quality Robusta. Despite seeing specialty coffee shops popping up around Copenhagen and a growing interest in exciting coffee concepts, the price paid to farmers keep dropping. When launching the report last year, we got a really good response, and I hope this report will help to give things a nudge in a more sustainable direction.

We agreed on a concept for the plot to explore ways to increase sustainability by increasing the resilience of the ecosystem in natural ways. We used knowledge gained from experiences in different places around the world, as well as ideas from Ecosystem Sciences, that Peter had studied to meet Daterra’s many years of practical experiences growing coffee in Cerrado as well as their agronomical resources. In early 2017 the first trees were planted on the field and this year they had reached a state where they had the first few cherries – unfortunately not enough to process in a good way, so we still need to wait another year to get to taste the first coffees of the plot. What we have done at the plot so far We have planted four varieties, all pre-dating 1950 since that’s when the usage of fertilizers and pesticides really began on a big scale.

At this point in time it seems clear that the coffee market is not working for the benefit of the farmers nor as an ideal market. While Specialty Coffee is booming in the consumer end, the New York C-price for coffee started off 2019 by going below the symbolic 1 $/lb green beans

Fincas Los Rodriguez consist of seven different farms or lots of land, all owned by the Rodriguez family. To assist in developing a Bolovian culture for how to grow coffee in a way that is financially sustainable for the small-hold farmers they are invited to come and learn the techniques of the Rodriguez family who among other things have refined their pruning and field management in general. And even the government of Bolivia seems to be recognising the potential in the work of the Rodriguez’; On my way in Caranavi I noticed a large coffee nursery, sponsored by the government, filled with tiny sprouts waiting to be planted, inspired by the Sol de Mañana project. For these small farmers being part of the ongoing programme, Sol de Mañana, is a way of trying to change the declining trend of exports from Bolivia.