Four Coffee Myths | OBIIS
Posted on January 4, 2023
1. When coffee commodity prices go up, the coffee farmer makes more money.
This is rarely true for a small coffee grower. Usually, the higher prices are taken by the wet-miller, dry-miller, and exporter from the coffee producing county. Small producers lack access and visibility into the global marketplace and must rely on domestic coffee processors to sell their coffee to ‘coffee consuming’ nations.
There are old colonial structures in place whereby the farmer may be getting high interest loans from the processor and are forced to sell their coffee at predetermined below market rates. My friend Martin Mayorga of Mayorga Coffee does a great job of explaining the continued exploitation of the small coffee farmer. Because of this we dismiss the C-contract pricing with differentials and work on the ‘Gate-Price’ with the farmer-producer themselves.
2. Buying coffee at the grocery store with the labels ‘USDA Organic’ or ‘Fair Trade’ is a great way to ensure the quality of your coffee.