Caffè Culture asks the questions about the reality of supply chain sustainability
Image: Kathryn Brand
It truly is a busy time for industry trade shows at the moment, with the 12th Annual North American Tea Conference in Miami last week, Host Milan kicking off today, and, a bit more local for me, was Caffè Culture in London also last week.
Hosted in Islington’s Business Design Centre, London, it was great to see the coffee and tea industry so well represented at this scale of show compared to the other larger international events taking place at the moment. The show offered a great mix of big names such as Lavazza, Pukka and Sucafina, alongside the smaller-time roasters and newcomer businesses.
Elliot Gard, event director, commented, “One of my favourite things about Caffè Culture is bringing our fantastic industry together to share ideas, build new relationships, learn about the latest trends whilst reacquainting yourselves with old friends and colleagues for two busy days of invaluable networking.”
Alongside the 110 exhibitors, there was a speaker line up of over 40 experts, six of whom attended a panel discussing Supply Chain Sustainability. This included: Emma Haines, UK sales manager, Alegrano; Mandi Caudill, carbon project manager & lead ecologist, Falcon; Sarah Walker, sustainability officer, Origin Coffee; Catalina Gutierrez, co-founder, Cata Export; May Putman Cramer, change manager for sustainability, Sucafina; and Frank Turner, responsible sourcing manager, Taylors of Harrogate.
Catalina and Mandi begun by discussing what their respective companies’ main sustainability focus currently is. Catalina explained that pricing and nurturing connections along their supply chain is important, as stabilsing pricing creates loyalty and trust, and this not only leads to more sustainable relationships, but trust and accountability. Meanwhile Mandi revealed that Falcon currently have 20 different sustainability projects on the go, with lots of data and science driven initiatives. Its main objective is to consolidate how emissions are measured in the coffee industry, and find a common standard to hold companies to, rather than the current individualistic approaches which create a barrier for cross company comparisons and collaborations.
Emma added to this by explaining that access to finance is the main barrier for producer sustainability, alongside a lack of information and education on the issues. Communication at farm level and bringing the producers into the conversation about sustainability strategies is essential for the longevity and equality of the schemes.
Mandi agreed and commented that companies are making sustainability claims and expecting the farms to carry them out, despite the majority of emissions not even coming from the farm level of the supply chain. All of the responsibility cannot be placed solely on the farmer, especially when the vast majority of coffee farmers are living below the poverty line, pointed out Frank. For impactful sustainability practices to be implemented at origin, there needs to be a restructuring on how so much of our coffee is sourced to ensure security of farmer livelihoods.
This perspective of looking more holistically at the coffee supply chain was concurred by Sarah, who argued that we cannot just use technology as the solution, it can only delay or shift problems. She used the example of the development of bio-plastic; while a valuable innovation and substantially improved upon petroleum-based plastic, according to a study by University College London, if we were to replace all plastic we currently use with bio-plastic, in order to meet this demand there wouldn’t be enough land left to grow food. A longer term solution needs to be found. And this is the same with the coffee supply chain.
Frank asserted that we need to face up to the issues of the coffee supply chain and ask the uncomfortable questions if sustainable and long-lasting progress can be made to save the coffee industry for future generations.
- Kathryn Brand, associate editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
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