Unfortunately Mike, this IS the way the #KC trade has been built up for the last 35 years, ever since the collapse of the ICA on fixed minimum prices and export quotas that existed throughout the Cold War years until the Berlin Wall came down and the ICA was about to be renewed and the U.S. #coffee industry - full well knowing that with them NAFTA trade agreement with Canada was on the horizon and coffee supply would not be a problem in the then foreseeable future - so the U.S. bulged and refused to renew the ICA (under the ICO and always used as a tool to reward the "allies" of the west during the Cold War years) dropped out of the cooperation and ever since basic market forces took over and have ruled ever since. Now the problem that REALLY bothers me is the every single participant in Big Coffee from the roasters through export-import, brokers trade and BY FAR LED by the Multinationals have been entirely - and consciously so - UNSCRUPULOUS throughout ALL this time. When the world of coffee produced a record crop in the 1999-2000 cycle of 130.5M bags vs consumption then of 105M bags, AND still plentiful stocks in both importing and producing countries the market collapsed and caused the "coffee crisis" where #KC fell to an all-time historic LOW of 38c/lb and for most of the time between 2001-2003 barely reached above 80-90c/lb. Since 2004 prices started to recover EVER so slightly but still so the VERY most part of the entire buying and importing chain continued to pay PEANUTS even when prices were demonstratively and confirmed below or WELL below cost of production. When prices finally started to move toward $2 and $3 in 2010-2011 the average cost of production on most farms were at $160-180 average so even so income and net utilities for farmers were minimal, especially if taking into account that growers at this point has accumulated 10-15-20 years of STAGGERING DEBT that cut into nearly ALL the little profits still left. At this point - ALSO - the average size of farm unit per family was down to 0.7-1.0ha MAX to sustain survival of a family of min average 5-8 people and since the land plot has been too small to SURVIVE off since over 20 years increasing % of ALL coffee land across the world - anywhere between 65-75% of the total world coffee park today - smallholder growers who make up 90-92-95% of all growers have increasingly ABANDONED their land to pursue ANY work that will bring CASH payment on Fridays so families will have at least ONE decent meal on the table a day. As a direct result of this, land is NOT maintained and productivity is down to 4-5 bags MAX on most of this semi- or fully abandoned land. I have been speaking out about this for over 25 years and since 2012 in multiple conferences around the world I made it clear that THE WORLD IS RUNNING OUT OF COFFEE because the UNSCRUPULOUS part of the Big Coffee #KC trade have continued to pressure ALL growers down to the last 1-2-3 c/lb which is the TINIEST of margins that CLD have enabled them to survive with at least ONE decent meal daily, but the shiny board rooms and directors and partners have continued to rather value earning MILLIONS OF DOLLARS more than ensure their very own supply chain would survive. And yes, at this point I am going FULL OUT in my criticism PRIMARILY against the multinationals, because of their VAST control and power over how pricing policies have been administered all these years. And yes, all the multinationals and many parts of the trade and #coffee industry at large including roasters and trade DO HAVE some tiny sustainability programs in place, but not a SINGLE ONE OF THEM have ever considered to add the "access road" to these programs hence the grower continues to NOT have direct access to the market but is forced to go through 2-3-4-5 or more middlemen to sell his crop and each will take a slide of the cake, while the WOMAN head of the household have to go through these same 2-3-4-5 middlemen to buy ANY household items not produced at the farm/land plot - which today easily is 80-90% or more, which in turn more than double or triple FOOD INSECURITY which again could be brought down almost instantly with what in most cases is not more than a 2-3-5km access road / Camino rural / camions terzeros. And these sustainability programs simply are NOT GOOD ENOUGH (yes another frase I have repeated on conferences since 2003) because they address a MICRO 0.00% of the growers and are mostly abandoned after a few years trial and error that show that much can be done with little input but this has to be CONSTANT and not just on a limited timeline, but these programs - like "women in coffee" blends - merely serve for companies to "tick off" the box on having done what is considered politically correct so NONE OF THESE EFFORTS HAVE LONG-LASTING IMPACT !!! And therefore the very VAST concentrated majority of the #coffee industry across the world is, indeed and SADLY SO, building their business on exploited labor!! Comments #coffee growers please? @JULCAOR , @nadezka5 , @anandpraka21865 , @Lorozco101 , @LegalEzra , @collinskimanth2 , @Steampunksa , @GoodbeansThe , @yseo_miquizytl , @trejorey1 , @U_Jaipuria , @Vishwanathvat , @AThipaiah , @ajcorchado , @farmer_orange , @sriee_m , @GKatabazi , @nuwagira24 , @Chiaps71 , @pereiracafes , @moyfarm , @neiaborotocafe , @MarvinR39550814 , @marleycb84 , @mauriciofadul , @F4tailhook , @kentfunny2021 , @Vrneck   wld love to hear your comments on this, pls??
#KC