Topic
Specialty coffee
About: Specialty coffee is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 330 publications have been published within this topic receiving 4494 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
More filters
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors link changing global coffee markets to opportunities and vulnerabilities for sustaining small-scale farmer livelihoods in northern Nicaragua and suggest that participation in organic and Fair Trade networks reduces farmers' livelihood vulnerability.
697 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a two-stage model is used to analyze farmers' marketing decisions and their effect on the prices received, and the results indicate that farmers participating in the specialty coffee segment do in fact receive higher prices than those participating in conventional channels.
284 citations
TL;DR: This article conducted household-and community-level research conducted in Nicaragua from 2000 to 2006 to assess the response to the post-1999 coffee crisis and found that households connected to Fair Trade cooperatives experienced several positive impacts in education, infrastructure investment, and monetary savings.
Abstract: In December 2001, green coffee commodity prices hit a 30-year low. This deepened the livelihood crisis for millions of coffee farmers and rural communities. The specialty coffee industry responded by scaling up several sustainable coffee certification programs, including Fair Trade. This study uses household- and community-level research conducted in Nicaragua from 2000 to 2006 to assess the response to the post-1999 coffee crisis. A participatory action research team surveyed 177 households selling into conventional and Fair Trade markets in 2006. In an effort to dialogue with specialty coffee industry and mainstream development agencies, results are framed within the context of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Findings suggest that households connected to Fair Trade cooperatives experienced several positive impacts in education, infrastructure investment, and monetary savings. However, several important livelihoods insecurities, including low incomes, high emigration, and food i...
188 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a structural utility model was proposed to compute consumers' benefits from changing products' sizes, and then compared the estimated benefits to cost data, showing that design distortions are relatively large for products not targeted to the highest demand consumers.
Abstract: Firms that use nonlinear pricing may distort product characteristics away from their efficient levels. This paper offers the first empirical study of this issue. Using data from a specialty coffee market, I estimate a structural utility model to compute consumers' benefits from changing products' sizes. I then compare the estimated benefits to cost data. Design distortions are relatively large for products not targeted to the highest-demand consumers. Distortions decrease toward zero with drink size for products with the largest profit margins. These results support some of the central predictions from nonlinear pricing theory, including “no distortion at the top.”
160 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors deal with the impact of the coffee crisis and strategies to deal with it, and explore options and constraints for increased competitiveness and diversification, and discuss social, environmental, and institutional dimensions of the crisis.
Abstract: Current coffee prices are at record lows and below the cost of production for many producers in Central America. Moreover, the coffee crisis is structural, and changes in supply and demand do not indicate a quick recovery of prices. So, coffee producers in Central America are facing new challenges-as are coffee laborers, coffee exporters, and others linked to the coffee sector. Coffee plays a major economic role in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. The coffee crisis is actually part of a broader rural crisis caused by weather shocks (such as Hurricane Mitch and droughts), low international agricultural commodity prices, and the global recession. These challenges call for new strategies for Central American countries aimed at broad-based sustainable development of their rural economies. The authors deal with the impact of the coffee crisis and strategies to deal with it. They include an analysis of the international coffee situation and country-specific analyses. The authors explore options and constraints for increased competitiveness and diversification, and discuss social, environmental, and institutional dimensions of the crisis. The authors conclude that there are specific solutions that can be pursued for the coffee sector. Some are already being applied, but more can be done in a more systematic way. Also, there is a need for safety nets to deal with the short-term impact of the crisis. Longer-term solutions are to be found in increased competitiveness and diversification in the context of broad-based sustainable rural economic development.
135 citations