5/5/08 Finca Java socios KB, Patty, Byron and I all piled into KBs magic bus this week to go to the SCAA annual conference in Minnesota.
Spirits were high as we drove thru the Grand Tetons, the Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, and the Badlands, touring Byron thru the sites.
The show was amazing. The theme this year was sustainable. We met all the major players and made many friends and contacts.
Paul Katzeff with Thanksgiving coffee who has worked years with Byron in organic coffee and started the SCAA, was honored with a life time achievement award. He is the one who started all the cupping labs in Nicaragua with a grant from USAID.
We had a great time with the Nicaragua contingent from Nicacafe including Nick Hopkins who works with them out of Esteli. We really came into this conference at the very top end as Byron is so connected with all the major players. The industry as a whole seems to embrace the principles of fair trade sustainable and in some cases organic. Surprising for a trade organization. There is still much debate as to all the different certifications and their viability vis-a-vis the cost vs. benefit to the producer. Organic is even more up in the air as it requires a major change in the producers methods. They do not want to give up their chemicals until they have proven models of organic profitability. Current organic prices do not support that. As the future of the planet, clean air and water, depend on the biological regeneration of the soil, we must continue to insist, promote, and convince our fellow producers world wide to follow this model. Byron has the answers. We were very proud that his presentation at the conference was the most useful of all that we attended. We will provide a venue at Finca El Peten for him to pass those answers on to the people of Nicaragua. We must insist that the SCAA continue to do the same on a world wide basis. After all where are they going to spend all the money they make on chemical coffee if there is no more air to breath or water to drink? All of you should be looking for any potential person that you know could be a proud owner of an organic coffee farm on a beautiful lake in Nicaragua.