How Natural Disasters Impacted Coffee Growers in 2020
Last year was a challenging year, in more ways than we could have imagined.
ANA VALENCIA speaks with KIM ELENA IONESCU and VERA ESPÍNDOLA about the compounding impacts of natural disasters on coffee growing regions and asks: What can we do to help?
The whole coffee supply chain went through changes, but the base of our industry—coffee producers—not only went through a global pandemic, but several natural disasters. Both affected their production.
Natural disasters are not something new, but in recent years, they not only happen more often, but they also have become more catastrophic, making it harder for coffee growers to recover. As an industry, we need to act, and we need to support farmers, the foundation of our supply chain. But how?
We had the opportunity to speak with Kim Elena Ionescu, Chief Sustainability Officer at the Specialty Coffee Association, and Vera Espíndola, also part of the SCA’s board of directors, who shared some valuable insights.
The Impact of Natural Disasters on Coffee Production
As I mentioned earlier, over the past few years, natural disasters are happening more often and making a more significant impact on the communities affected. According to an article posted on The Zebra, the most impactful disasters are hydrological events, like floods, which can be a consequence of hurricanes. These events often affect regions of extreme poverty more severely, which is the case in many areas where coffee farms are located in coffee-producing countries.
According to an article posted in Vox, from March to November 2020, there were more than 100 disasters worldwide, many being natural disasters, affecting over 50 million people. Monsoons washed over China and India, typhoons hit the Philippines and Vietnam, the last one also being affected by terrible floods. Earthquakes shook Puerto Rico, and, countries across Central and Latin America experienced a notoriously difficult hurricane season.
Last year also brought other challenges, some related to COVID-19, with impacts reaching beyond the farm: labor shortages as well as container delays and restrictions at port also affected buyers and exporters. All of these added stress and, of course, increased costs, but that's not all! According to Kim, beneath the layer of COVID-19’s impact and the distress of the disasters, many producers are still facing the impact of low coffee prices from 2019. All of these added stress and uncertainty to an already stressful and uncertain position.
They also brought additional costs and vulnerability to many producers. According to Kim, some producers may not be able to sustain their production: “the costs are too high and could make it impossible to produce coffee, it'll all drastically affect the production.” This could turn growers away from coffee to look for a better—more stable—income. “There are some farmers, that at this point, these disasters, may be making the decision for them,” continued Kim. “They could withstand some stress and bad years for some time, but it doesn't make sense for some anymore.”
Farmers are resilient—we’ve seen them recover from other disasters like rust outbreaks—but it's getting harder for them to recover from disasters of this magnitude, especially when they happen more often.
The Effects of Hurricanes Eta and Iota on Central America
Although there were many others, two main natural disasters were the focus of our attention in 2020 as they affected several coffee-producing countries: hurricanes Eta and Iota. According to a report from UNICEF, around 9.2 million people were affected by these hurricanes combined. They hit Central America, Mexico, and Colombia, just two weeks apart from one another.
Hurricanes aren't new, and their landfall locations are not unusual. Still, compared to other years, and partially due to the extenuating impacts of COVID-19, the impacted countries didn't get as much support or attention from governments, big NGOs, or the media this time, as many had invested efforts and money to causes related to the pandemic. This makes the process of recovering longer and harder for the affected communities.
Vera mentioned that while coffee plantations were not significantly affected, it doesn't mean coffee farms escaped the impact of the storms. Farmers often grow other products like corn and some legumes, which grow at lower elevations, more affected by floods. "It's not that it didn't affect coffee—it did—but we have to understand that it did affect producers, striking them on products that are part of their everyday lives," said Vera. The storms affected not only their land, but also their livelihoods and the food on their tables.
It will take time for these farmers to recover, and time is money. "We know small communities are not the priority for many governments when these disasters happen," Vera mentioned. As many countries make big cities' infrastructure a priority, it may take longer for these small communities to recover. Vera shared an experience of visiting some producers in 2010, who were still recovering from Hurricane Mitch, a category five storm that hit the region in 1998. "Imagine how long it can take for them to recover, to get back on track, without support," she added.
While, according to Kim, “the impact of COVID will probably have a bigger impact on the market than these individual disasters,” they affect production, and the availability of coffees from specific origins, like Honduras. According to Kim, this is why relationships are essential: for producers, it’s important to know that they can find buyers who understand the situation. “They need to find buyers who are understanding of the compounded challenges of 2020 when they are determining what the value of the coffee is and whether to purchase it.”
Initiatives from the Coffee Industry to Support Affected Farmers
After both hurricanes hit, there were a few NGOs and companies within our industry, like Sustainable Harvest, Food 4 Farmers, Anacafé, Lutheran World Relief, and the Honduran Coffee Institute (IHCAFE) that created fundraisers and programs to support affected communities, involving consumers and also raising awareness about what had happened.
Although many of the organizations were already working with specific cooperatives or farmer groups—or even based in the affected countries—these initiatives were designed to help farmers in the short term.
“It’s important to recognize that the institutions in coffee-producing countries are the first ones to provide aid, they have pre-existing relationships with coffee producers and understand the context of that landscape, the physical landscape and also cultural landscape,” explained Kim. These organizations are best-placed to direct the funds directly to those most affected, as they know the real impact of these disasters. They are also great assets to gather information about what’s happening in the ground. They can be a useful resource for producers and cooperatives, as they can communicate with buyers about how to be helpful.
Affected coffee growing communities need cash right now, especially as the distribution of supplies and aid kits may be slow due to COVID-19 restrictions and damaged roads, even though at this point some have probably already been addressed; and as roasters were aware of this need, different companies in the US and Europe also put together fundraisers to directly help out some communities, which helped raise awareness at the consumer level.
How Can We Support Farmers?
Vera and Kim both mentioned the importance of roasters and buyers keeping in communication with the farmers they work with, assuring them that their coffees will still be purchased—this can give some relief and a sense of security to them and their families.
It’s also crucial that buyers stay true to their commitments and to be aware that there will probably be higher costs. “Recovery is going to require an extra,” said Kim. “Extra work, extra investment. This is an opportunity to live those values of sharing risk and sharing reward.” For roasters, this can be an excellent opportunity to develop real partnerships with producers and a chance to share some of that risk and to “invest” in those partnerships, which can transform into long-lasting business relationships.
For roasters and buyers, this could mean many different things: maybe purchasing lower cup score coffees, buy different products than they used to, or expect and plan for delays. These little things can help farmers recover, so it’s a good time to be mindful and flexible.
And, of course, we can’t leave aside climate change. Investing in and financially contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation initiatives can be a way to push big organizations to invest in the same and try to attack the problem at a bigger scale.
Even if companies can’t invest in climate change initiatives, it’s important to spread awareness, start conversations within our companies, talk about the topic, and prioritize it. “Our industry depends on it,” as Kim said. She also mentioned that there are lots of small ways to ensure this is a priority, too: we can change our individual behaviors, be thoughtful about our language and message, and look for more “climate-friendly” ways to drink coffee.
Even though these are not ideal situations, they show us how important it is to act together, work together as an industry, and keep the supply chain connected. If we want our industry to thrive and keep growing, we need to support the base of the chain and keep working together.
ANA VALENCIA is a coffee lover and independent content strategist based in Guadalajara, Mexico, who has been working in the specialty coffee industry for the past five years.