What does sustainability mean in the coffee industry?

Social sustainability has to do with the people who participate in the coffee industry. Their standard of living, inequalities between social groups and opportunities for growth are some of the factors that indicate social sustainability.

What does sustainability mean in the coffee industry?

Social sustainability has to do with the people who participate in the coffee industry. Their standard of living, inequalities between social groups and opportunities for growth are some of the factors that indicate social sustainability. Many coffee-producing countries suffer from extreme poverty and lack effective social infrastructure. In the highly volatile coffee market, producers and their families are incredibly vulnerable.

The economic sustainability of the industry is strongly linked to the social sustainability of communities around the world. Basically, coffee sustainability is about making coffee better for everyone. Exposed coffee farmers and their families live in a highly unpredictable coffee market that is not economically sustainable for them. The sad truth is that the current state of the coffee industry sometimes promotes the exploitation of people who work in the coffee industry.

Ever since the first international agreement on coffee in 1962, there has been discussion of how to limit the amount of excess in the market to ensure economic sustainability. If you own a coffee company or are planning to start one, you'll want to know how you can contribute to economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Climate change and fair coffee prices are legitimately important issues today, but sustainability is not a new idea in the world of coffee. There was a conversation about how to reduce the amount of excess in the coffee industry to ensure financial sustainability.

It is a new and important initiative to turn coffee into the world's first fully sustainable agricultural product, uniting all actors in the coffee sector (producers, traders, roasters and retailers) to stimulate greater demand for sustainable coffee (and generate greater investments in it). Since coffee farms are located in largely isolated places, this has an impact on the costs of buying important tools and transporting products throughout the coffee chain. A simple definition of coffee sustainability is coffee that is grown in a way that takes care of the people who grow it, as well as the environment. Economic sustainability is linked to the social sustainability of the poorest communities in the coffee market. It will take a lot of work and collaboration to create a greater demand for sustainability, to the extent that we no longer have to choose between buying a sustainable cup of coffee and an unsustainable cup.

Or, they can try to keep themselves at bay and protect themselves from pests, high temperatures and variable rainfall by redoubling their efforts on good agricultural practices and improving farm management, including replacing old and diseased coffee trees with improved, disease-resistant varieties. Sustainability has not only entered the scene in terms of importance, but has been considered since the first international agreement on coffee, which took place in the 1960s.

Glenna Matthys
Glenna Matthys

Hardcore internet practitioner. Wannabe beer advocate. Infuriatingly humble beer expert. Devoted coffee evangelist. Hardcore social media scholar. Friendly beer fanatic.