Coffee production works a little different than many other commodity productions. A substantial part of coffee production is being doen by smallholder producers (<5ha). Alone they do not have a lot of market power, IF they even have an equal access to the market.
As it stands, many coffee farmers get less money for their beans than it costs them to grow, pick and process them. A coffee farmer cannot keep this up for long. If this continues, they will explore other options. For example, they will choose to plant other, more financially sustainable crops, and forgo coffee production altogether. Or, and this is a bad option, they opt for efficiency gains through automatic picking, where both ripe and unripe berries are taken from the bush together, which greatly affects the quality of the coffee.
Worse still, you often see that cultivation methods are preferred that may yield more beans (of lower quality) in total, but which usually also cause damage to the area where they are grown. In the latter case, for example, large areas in the sun are cleared of other vegetation, even though a coffee plant produces better beans under the natural shade of higher growing plants, their natural habitat. Coffee Arabica originated a long time ago in the few wooded areas of Ethiopia. Farmers are therefore cultivating more land and not always doing it in such a way that is good for the soil or the plants and vegetation around it. This leads to poor land management, soil erosion, forest loss and a reduction in biodiversity, which in turn leads to flooding and contributes to climate change. The same climate change that will make it impossible to grow coffee in certain places in the future, because the conditions will have changed so much. And which therefore threatens the survival of coffee as we know it.
Our producers are therefore vulnerable, and that is why we support them with various initiatives that ensure that these farmers receive a correct price. We also help them to set up cooperatives that provide better working conditions, security and representation. Farmers learn about good soil and water management. Women farmers are united in Women Coffee Producers' programs, which are very important because women producers are even more vulnerable. As a result, they receive further training, their representation in the coffee world is improved and they have better access to healthcare and other important authorities. A comprehensive approach, because that is the only way to protect coffee and the grower.
Addendum:
In the last few years prices rose on the coffee exchanges due to a higher demand, speculation on future crop yield, world market difficulties (US tariffs) and ongoing conflicts. You would think the producers would be the ones benefitting from this price hike. However, this is not the case. Lots of actors benefit these price hikes, but coffee producers don't. It's for this reason we've partnered up with initiatives like Bean Voyage (through Falcon Coffees) and Semilla Coffee. They do not only provide farmers with a decent price, they ensure them with stability in terms of yearly purchase security and access to training.
But if we want the situation to change drastically in the benefit of producers, big coffee companies need to step up as well. We therefore ask the major coffee companies to follow us and increase the price they pay for their beans. Only then will we be able to improve the working and living conditions of coffee farmers around the world, help combat climate change and continue to guarantee the quality of coffee. I'll go one step further: it's our damn duty as coffee makers. Take up the challenge!