Why is it so important to host educational events in coffee-producing countries?

Every year, a rapidly growing number of events take place in the global coffee industry. These range from traditional trade shows to high-level competitions to origin trips – making the specialty coffee sector even more exciting.

Many of these events, however, are held in export market countries and regions, including the US, Europe, and Australia. While this isn’t to say these events don’t serve an important purpose when hosted in such places, it can often mean many coffee professionals at origin aren’t able to participate and contribute on a similar level.

This leads to a number of complex issues along the coffee supply chain. Chief among these is a lack of knowledge sharing in producing countries, in addition to concerns that producers’ perspectives and opinions are not acknowledged to the same extent as those of other industry professionals.

To address these problems, some coffee companies are organising their own events to make sure more value is retained at origin. I spoke to three people who attended the first-ever Ally Open Summit held in Brazil on 19 and 20 September 2023 to find out more. Read on for their insight on why hosting events in producing countries is so important.

A growing number of coffee events

Now more than ever, there is a more diverse range of events in the coffee sector. Industry professionals have the option to attend a broad range of festivals, expos, and competitions, as well as organised trips to coffee farms.

The latter naturally take place in producing countries, where green buyers, roasters, and baristas can tour farm facilities and understand more about coffee production.

Although origin trips can be a useful way for producers to connect with other coffee professionals, networking and knowledge sharing often take place in much less formalised settings.

Ricardo Pereira is the COO of Ally Coffee, which has been hosting an annual Champs Trip event since 2016 as an opportunity for US and World Coffee Champions to visit producing countries.

This year, he explains Ally Coffee also organised the inaugural Ally Open Summit as part of the 2023 Champs Trip.

“Ally Coffee decided to launch the first Ally Open Summit as an evolution of our annual Champs Trip because we wanted to take advantage of having so many incredible coffee professionals join us from all over the world,” he says.

Along with several leading figures in the Brazilian coffee industry, Ricardo spoke at the opening ceremony of the event on 19 September, before joining the How to add value to coffee production panel with producers from Colombia, El Salvador, and Costa Rica.

“It’s great to visit farms, see post-harvest processing, and meet producers, but we can also go beyond this,” he tells me. “If we’re going to invite coffee professionals with different backgrounds and experiences then why don’t we create an opportunity for knowledge sharing and making more of a meaningful impact at origin.”

Creating space for producers’ perspectives

With so many events held in export market countries, many producers and other coffee professionals at origin miss out on attending them. This is especially true for smallholder farmers who may have fewer financial resources to travel.

Inevitably, this means producers’ voices and opinions can be left out of important conversations. But without their perspectives, it’s impossible to understand some of the biggest issues the global coffee industry faces today.

Diego Campos is the 2021 World Barista Champion, and also recently opened his own coffee shop in Colombia. He attended the Ally Open Summit at Fazenda Minamihara where he spoke on the How to add value to the cup panel with several other World Coffee Championship competitors.

“Hosting events at origin makes it much easier for producers to showcase where coffee comes from,” he says. “Baristas and roasters can see with their own eyes what it takes to grow coffee and understand more about coffee production.”

Similarly, producers also have the opportunity to learn from traders, roasters, baristas, and other coffee professionals – which allows them to gain new insight as well.

“It’s always important for producers to be able to attend these kinds of events because then we get to expand our knowledge,” Diego says. “Conversely, more people can comprehend the work we do on farms and how we improve coffee quality.

“Everyone has different ideas and concepts about coffee, so it helps to combine and share them,” he adds.

Why does more knowledge sharing need to take place at origin?

It’s no understatement to say education is one of the main driving forces of the specialty coffee industry. With both industry professionals and consumers becoming more and more informed, the sector only continues to evolve.

Events play a key role in improving access to coffee education, too – with many including panels and lectures, workshops, cuppings, and networking sessions. In turn, hosting more events at origin means industry professionals in these countries have the chance to participate and engage in a more accessible and meaningful way.

“Knowledge is power,” Ricardo tells me. “As my father said when I was younger, if there’s one thing that people can’t take from you, it’s knowledge.

“So bringing coffee events to producers is so important,” he adds. “As an industry, we must understand the struggles that producers face, as well as finding ways to resolve them and create opportunities for sharing information.”

Hosting more events in producing countries

Alongside the Ally Open Summit, a small but growing number of producer-focused events have been held at origin – with the aim of placing coffee farmers at the forefront of important industry-wide discussions. These include Producer Roaster Forum, which Ally Coffee sponsors every year.

“Producer Roaster Forum is an incredible platform that Ally Coffee is very proud to have sponsored since the first event,” Ricardo says. “Empowering producers and creating opportunities for knowledge sharing at origin is a powerful tool for the coffee industry.”

Diego Campos, who also owns Finca Diamante in Colombia, emphasises that these events allow for two-way communication.

“Giving feedback to producers is very important,” Diego Campos tells me. “It’s not just about asking them to try different things, but building a relationship and creating consistency.

“Events like the Ally Open Summit allows us to see where coffee quality is at right now, as well as what consumers are asking for and what the future of coffee looks like,” he adds. “We need to listen to everyone along the supply chain because there are many unique challenges – which makes connecting the coffee chain even more important.”

Effectively addressing issues in the coffee industry

As well as offering the chance to connect and network with other coffee professionals, attending events held at origin means producers have more of a platform to speak about the difficulties they face in an ever-evolving industry.

“Finding ways to provide real support and create new learning opportunities for producers is essential,” Ricardo says. “We can ask them about the social and environmental aspects of coffee farming, and understand how we can join forces as an industry to invest in the sustainable future of coffee.

“For instance, the average age of coffee producers around the world is only increasing,” he adds. “So how can we motivate younger generations to show them that coffee has a future which depends on them?”

He continues to say that he sees attitudes shifting, particularly in Brazil.

“Younger people are becoming more interested in coffee and more involved in their family businesses,” he continues. “We’re seeing more third, fourth, or fifth generations now working in coffee and telling their stories.”

Ensuring a more diverse range of coffee professionals benefit

There is often much discussion about how we can improve sustainability and equity along the supply chain – which are prominent talking points at many coffee events.

These conversations are certainly necessary and important, but they can exclude insight from producers when held in places like the US and Europe. Moreover, farmers are usually the most affected by issues such as fluctuations in coffee prices and the impact of climate change, which means their perspectives are invaluable in addressing these challenges.

“There’s so much we can learn as an industry,” Ricardo explains. “When we were talking to Diego Campos for our new podcast Rooted in Coffee, he said something that really struck me. He told me that when coffee professionals go to origin, they’re sometimes trying to tell producers what to do, but they don’t want to share any of the risk.

“But the truth is that we can learn so much more from producers than we can actually teach them,” he adds. “So if we can create opportunities like the Ally Open Summit where producers can participate and share their experiences and knowledge with other farmers, traders, roasters, baristas, equipment manufacturers, and technology brands, then we can bring all these different facets of the industry together in one place.”

Bringing producers together to create more value

Diego Baraona is a producer at Los Pirineos in El Salvador. He took part in two panels at the first-ever Ally Open Summit entitled How to add value to coffee production and How to add value in coffee sales.

He explains how connecting with other coffee professionals helps him to deepen his knowledge of coffee.

“As a producer, it’s really interesting to interact with competitors because they are the ambassadors of specialty coffee,” he says. “It’s a mingling of different experiences and perspectives.”

Furthermore, he adds that meeting producers from different countries is also invaluable.

“I’m feeling inspired because I shared a lot of my own knowledge, but I also took in a lot of information, too,” he tells me. “It’s really cool to share knowledge between producing countries because we are all different. It’s interesting to see the large scale of production in Brazil, yet also experience how producers keep quality and processes consistent.

“Also, the cost of production is lower in Brazil, which inspires me to bring costs down while also focusing more on implementing organic farming practices,” he adds.

Improving the diversity of events at origin

With specialty coffee consumption steadily growing in some producing countries, the types of events taking place in these regions are also broadening. For example, according to research from the Specialty Coffee Association:

Brazil’s specialty coffee market share doubled between 2016 and 2018 from 6% to 12%

In 2018, the estimated value of the Colombian specialty coffee market was around US $1.52 billion – and is likely to have grown since

It’s believed specialty coffee accounts for between 3% and 5% of Mexico’s coffee consumption, with more and more specialty coffee shops opening in bigger cities

Given this growth, more events are launching in producing countries which focus on roasting and brewing. One of these is Torrando Ideias, which was held from 21 to 23 September 2023 in Patrocínio, Brazil. In addition to workshops, presentations, and cuppings, there were several panel discussions at the event – bringing together a wide range of coffee professionals from different countries.

“Ally Coffee has a strong presence in Brazil, so having a lot of networks in the country really helped us to facilitate the first Ally Open Summit,” Ricardo concludes. “But we don’t intend to only host the Ally Open Summit in Brazil – we’re exploring holding it in other producing countries as well.”

Ultimately, if we want to grow as an industry, there needs to be more groundbreaking events held in producing countries. By doing so, we can help to retain more value at origin – and create a more equitable and knowledgeable supply chain.

Enjoyed this? Then read our article on why more producers don’t market their own coffee.

Photo credits: Ally Coffee

Perfect Daily Grind

Editor’s note: Perfect Daily Grind attended the Ally Open Summit on 19 & 20 September, and was invited to speak on a panel alongside other industry professionals.

Want to read more articles like this? Sign up for our newsletter!

The post Why is it so important to host educational events in coffee-producing countries? appeared first on Perfect Daily Grind.