SCA: New Coffee Price Crisis Initiative and Executive Director
The Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) has launched its Coffee Price Crisis Response Initiative, and has announced a new Executive Director.
The Initiative is aimed at understanding and addressing the price crisis affecting coffee farmers and threatening the supply chain as a whole. The effort will be led by Ric Rhinehart who will be stepping down from his role as Executive Director of the association to be succeeded by Yannis Apostolopoulos, the current Deputy Executive Director.
It has been well reported by coffee farmers, producing country institutions, and producer advocates recently that coffee producers are not being paid enough for their coffee to maintain profitable farming operations. A 2017 literature review on coffee farm profitability conducted by the SCA concluded that the price threshold for profitability stands at $2.50/lb, however in August 2018 the commodity futures price dropped below $1.00/lb.
The SCA is launching its new initiative as an organization, allocating substantial resources, both human and financial, to expanding its role and response to the coffee price crisis.
In its first year, the Coffee Price Crisis Response Initiative aims to accomplish the following objectives:
- Increase funding and resources allocated to better understanding the topic in collaboration with the staff and volunteer advisory councils of the SCA’s Advocacy and Sustainability Centers
- Conduct research on the coffee price crisis and its effects on producers and the entire value chain
- Convene experts from the private sector and academia to explore alternative price discovery tools for the specialty coffee industry
- Outline alternative economic models for the specialty coffee trade and provide a meaningful way for companies to address risks in the supply chain
