An Invitation to Re-generate Our Sustainability Approach: Re-think/Restore/Replenish | 2023 Re:co Fellow Feature — Olga L Cuellar-Gomez
The specialty coffee industry is vital in promoting sustainability and driving positive change in the global coffee supply chain—but our current approaches raise many questions.
2023 Re:co Fellow OLGA L CUELLAR-GOMEZ, a social entrepreneur working with extensive experience structuring sustainability projects, reflects on the industry’s recent focuson green house gas (GHG) emissions and offers a methodology to ensure farmers’ voices and perspectives are integrated into new sustainability initiatives.
This Fellows seminar from Re:co Portland is supported by Fellows Program sponsor, Toddy. For over 50 years, Toddy brand cold brew systems have delighted baristas, food critics, and regular folks alike. By extracting all the natural and delicious flavors of coffee and tea, Toddy Cold Brew Systems turn your favorite coffee beans and tea leaves into fresh cold brew concentrates, that are ready to serve and enjoy. Learn more about Toddy at toddycafe.com.
While companies may have good intentions, the impact and effectiveness of the coffee industry’s sustainability interventions so far isn’t well understood. In social and economic terms, conditions for farmers haven’t improved—but what about environmentally? Although carbon footprint reduction has increasingly come into focus as a key sustainability intervention, a recent European Union Commission report found that over 40% of public sustainability claims, particularly those related to carbon emissions, needed more substantiation—in other words, there was little to no proof that these claims were true. Not only that, but the resulting push to reduce carbon footprints has led to several challenges that echo those faced by other, earlier sustainability models. For me, all of these factors raise significant concerns about our current sustainability practices: I believe it’s time for us to re-evaluate our approach and strive for a different kind of sustainability, one that truly integrates farmers’ voices and perspectives.
Challenges to Current Sustainability Approaches
The specialty coffee industry’s ability to focus in on a specific sustainability initative is commendable, but it often leads to particular challenges, especially for farmers. First, there is often a lack of clarity for farmers, particularly around complexities and requirements. This is partially due to a lack of standardization, because various projects employ different tools and approaches, resulting in confusion and inconsistency among farmers, and an absence of industry targets, which create fragmented efforts as each entity pursues its objectives. This is further compounded by a lack of training and information, particularly regarding pathways to address sustainability challenges effectively; industry commitments, often made on behalf of farmers without actively involving them in the decision-making process; and little compensation for farmers’ efforts to address these challenges (sustainability interventions require investment, and their efforts should be duly rewarded to ensure a reasonable return on those investments).
An understanding of the demands placed on farmers, the investments required, and the potential return on investment (ROI) for these sustainability interventions will facilitate a more holistic and inclusive approach to sustainability. Collaboration with farmers in the early stages of new sustainable trends is crucial for their successful implementation. By listening to and including the voices of traditionally underrepresented communities, we can ensure that sustainability initiatives are better aligned with the realities on the ground.
A Collaborative Foundation for Sustainable Initiatives: The 5Is
To overcome these challenges, involving farmers in the early stages of sustainable trends and initiatives is imperative. Including farmers in sustainable initiatives has numerous benefits. First, it ensures that the voices of traditionally underrepresented communities are heard, fostering a more inclusive approach to sustainability. Farmers possess valuable knowledge and experience that can contribute to developing effective and context-specific solutions. Moreover, involving farmers promotes a sense of ownership and empowers them to actively participate in shaping the future of the specialty coffee industry.
I’ve developed a methodology, which I call “the 5 Is,” which provides a practical framework for initiating sustainable projects. By embracing this methodology, stakeholders can foster collaboration and ensure farmers' perspectives are heard, acknowledging the communities' unique context and needs.
First, inspiration motivates us to create a sustainability project. Sustainability projects are born out of personal commitment and the desire to genuinely collaborate with others.
Next, we imagine the project and develop a vision of its future, by combining what we know with our creativity: this will help us materialize our efforts from the position and perspective we have of the industry.
Then, we interact in order to understand what the community needs. By developing direct and trusting relationships with the communities of origin and other stakeholders can lead us to understand the needs and problems to be solved and issues to be translated from a sustainability perspective. Here, it’s important to particularly develop these relationships with farmers and farmworkers.
Afterwards, we innovate by combining our imagination of the project with what we learned during our interactions in order to meet the community's needs and business relationships. The transfer and appropriation of knowledge, skills, and tools are significant innovation challenges, so empowering communities to continue growing with cutting-edge technology and trends to build "smart rural communities” is key during this phase.
And, finally, we integrate this into an implementation process with the community as well as different facets of the business. Our job now is to continue moving forward together based on the lessons learned in the field for the benefit of everyone involved. The integration of strategic alliances allows us to continue building transparent, traceable, tangible programs and projects on shared sustainability issues.
Working Together Towards Authentic Sustainability
Integrating co-responsibility for sustainable commitments is crucial to creating a genuinely sustainable specialty coffee industry. If a company demands compliance in reducing GHG emissions, it must also provide the necessary resources and support to enable farmers to meet these demands effectively. Sustainability initiatives should be bidirectional, with tools and requirements accessible to all stakeholders, accompanied by continuous improvement opportunities.
Regenerating our sustainability approach involves three key actions: re-think, restore, and replenish. We must re-think our strategies, ensuring that they are coherent, inclusive, and considerate of the needs of all stakeholders. We must restore what has been taken from the environment and the people, making amends, we must also diligently replenish the resources we have utilized to ensure a harmonious balance for future generations.
It is essential to gather diverse perspectives to gain insights into the future of sustainability around the industry. By consulting various actors within the specialty coffee industry, we can begin to identify shared goals and chart a course for sustainable practices—although it may take some time, as our perspectives on this topic are equally diverse! I recently asked a group of actors in our industry, “What is the future of sustainability in specialty coffee?”, and here are some of their responses:
“For true sustainability, other metrics besides the price need to be considered by all producers. What are they doing to grow coffee more responsibly for the environment and become more efficient and judicious in their use of resources to help manage their costs and improve yields and their income? This also includes intercropping on a rotating basis to conserve soil nutrients. I believe regenerative agriculture will become imperative for a sustainable future.” – Judy Gaines, Judy Gaines Consulting
"The future of sustainability for small producers lies in having other crops in addition to coffee where there is a carbon economic compensation." – Caminlo Enciso, General Manager ASOPEP Colombia
"Roasters need to spend time at origin to learn more about producers' real challenges and needs instead of telling them what they need. […] The industry needs to stop over-focusing on special processes and ‘innovation’ over the basic human quality of life improvements." – Martin Mayorga, Founder and CEO Mayorga Coffee, USA
Regardless of what the future holds for our sustainability initiatives, as industry leaders, we must be courageous to re-evaluate (and rewrite) our approaches if we want them to be successful and have their desired impact. While in the coffee business, we must never forget that our work directly impacts people's lives and livelihoods. The sustainability of the entire economic system, which includes farmers, pickers, input suppliers, and service providers, is at stake. We must take responsibility and be accountable for enabling all stakeholders to survive and thrive together.
OLGA L CUELLA-GOMEZ is a social entrepreneur with sixteen years of experience structuring sustainable projects with an innovative approach, cultivating relationships with local and international organizations. She has extensive experience in establishing sustainable models on agricultural value chains always includes the farmers' voice and perspective and building commercial relationships based on transparency and gender equity lenses. Known for her passion and determination to create, innovate, and collaborate with transferable leadership skills and lead to real action on the field, Olga advocates for a real, credible, and replicable sustainability approach that generates impacts on all stakeholders on the value chain.
About the 2023 Re:co Fellowship Program
Over the past 15 years, we’ve watched Re:co repeatedly create a vibrant network of emerging and existing leadership within the specialty coffee industry during its brief emergence every year. This year’s Re:co Symposium Fellowship, evolved in keeping with changes made to the structure and intentionality of this year’s programming, is designed to highlight individuals working to address the challenges and opportunities of specialty coffee’s emerging future and who wish to develop their leadership capabilities in the sector in order to further this work.
Thanks in part to the generous support of the 2023 Re:co Fellowship sponsor, Toddy LLC, we awarded eight fellowships to qualified applicants, which covered the registration fee of Re:co Symposium and the Specialty Coffee Expo; three nights of accommodation in Portland, Oregon; and up to US$500 of a fellows’ travel expenses.