International Coffee Day: Brewing change for female farmers, boosting traceability and cell-based tech

01 Oct 2021 --- To mark International Coffee Day, FoodIngredientsFirst looks at the trends shaping the coffee sector, including an initiative targeting the cycle of poverty for female coffee farmers worldwide, sustainable supply chains, and how storytelling and provenance drive change in the sector. 

Kerry’s Café Femenino initiative is a community-based program in coffee-growing regions committed to ending the cycle of poverty that affects global female coffee farmers.

As part of the partnership, Kerry will provide access to its global distribution network for the group’s coffee production. Café Femenino is based in Peru, Sumatra (Indonesia), Brazil, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Mexico, Colombia and Rwanda. 

Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Joseph Rivera, global portfolio and innovation lead for coffee at Kerry, says: “Through this sourcing partnership, we create a selection of high-quality, fairtrade and organic coffee extracts using beans from the Café Femenino program.”

Empowering women 
Sabina Cecanop, founding president of Café Femenino Peru, says the organization has been able to improve the quality of life for many. 

Olam Food Ingredients is highlighting the importance of female empowerment in coffee sourcing.The members also secure rights to the land they farm to produce Fair Trade Certified and organic-certified coffees. This partnership further strengthens Kerry’s Beyond the Horizon sustainability program and showcases its commitment to improving the livelihoods of suppliers and their communities. 

Meanwhile, Juan Antonio Rivas, senior vice president for coffee at Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), says that while women do the majority of the production in coffee, they often do not have equal access to land titles or training in sustainable coffee practices.

“We know that women are more likely to invest income back into their families and farms, so supporting them helps to reduce poverty and improve nutrition more widely. That is why we work with female coffee producers to help them get the resources, skills, knowledge and voices they need to reach their full agricultural potential,” he explains. 

“By 2025, we will train 100,000 households on sustainable agricultural practices or basic business skills, with more than 20% of these being women.”

Creating sustainability efforts
For example, in Brazil, OFI has created the Café Delas program based on the idea that given better access to resources and an equal voice in leadership, women will produce fine specialty-grade coffee and positively impact their families and communities. 

“We track the women’s decision-making power, control over income, access to resources, and how their time is divided between agricultural and domestic tasks,” Rivas comments. 

“Although coffee prices have recently increased, farmers have been battling years of low prices, and these cycles and volatility create huge uncertainty for subsistence farmers. Therefore, most of our programs aim to plug income gaps for farmers by equipping them with training and market connections to increase coffee productivity on the same land.”

Traceability trending 
Also speaking with FoodIngredientsFirst, Marie Le Beller, product manager at Prova, highlights how the company has “multiple ways to ensure a sustainable coffee offer.”

“We offer an organic line of coffee products, as well as fairtrade. This year, we added the Rainforest Alliance (RFA) certification to our portfolio to debut a new range of RFA-certified coffee. With these three certifications, we are eyeing positive impact all along the value chains,” she outlines. 

As we enter the Halloween season, many product launches will be flavored with pumpkin spice, says Prova.Le Beller notes that another way to add a traceability aspect to coffee is to offer pure origin products. 

There is a growing number of new products flavored with single-origin coffees, including coffees from Colombia, Brazil and Ethiopia, adds Kévin Bangratz, marketing researcher at Prova. 

“Humanizing” coffee
Siva Subramanian, vice president for coffee innovation at OFI, believes the specialty trend will grow. “Today’s consumers want distinctive flavor, interesting provenance and stories, and exceptional quality, which is why we’re working hard to discover and develop innovative specialty coffees for our customers.”

Consumers are ‘humanizing coffee’ and are looking for differentiation. “They want to know the science and the story behind their everyday coffee. Not all coffees are created equally, and primary processing of coffee can make a massive difference in the cup’s quality,” Subramanian comments. 

“However, OFI’s coffee business is trying out new methods in coffee processing that use a science-backed, experimental approach. Starter cultures are introduced in post-harvesting processing of Colombian and Costa Rican coffee varieties to enhance the coffee’s sensory profile and create a unique aroma profile for boutique roasters.”

Another key trend is healthy coffee. “We have noticed many launches of coffee drinks enriched with collagen. This ingredient seems to contribute to the beauty of the skin and, consequently, it is spreading in all product categories,” adds Bangratz.

As we enter the Halloween season, he asserts that there will be many product launches flavored with pumpkin spice. 

Cultured coffee on the horizon?
Last month, the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) successfully produced coffee cells in a bioreactor through cellular agriculture – an innovation that can help make coffee production more sustainable.

Dr. Heiko Rischer, principal scientist and research team leader of Plant Biotechnology at VTT, says cellular agriculture offers alternative routes to food with a lower environmental footprint. 

Cell-based coffee, an innovation recently developed by VTT, is a novel method in tackling supply chain issues.“The technology could help solve fundamental problems in the coffee sector, such as sustainability, security of supply and fairness. Sustainable coffee supply chains are crucial for a successful business, but consumers also demand them. Traceability, fairness and environmental friendliness are expected.”

Rischer says the uncertainty about future supply due to shrinking farmland suitable for coffee cultivation is a big worry. “There are huge price fluctuations already now illustrating the volatile nature of the market.”

However, several start-ups are looking at solving some of these basic issues, he notes. “The ideas range from ‘synthetic’ coffee to other approaches ‘without using the bean.’ Cellular agriculture will likely make an impact in the future,” he attests. 

Rivera at Kerry flags how there has been an increased focus on research in developing alternative coffees due to the threat of global warming. “Scientists have estimated that the amount of cultivable land for coffee will be reduced by 50% by 2050.”

“Cell-based coffee is an innovative method in tackling supply chain issues. It will be interesting to see how it positions itself among naturally cultivated coffee originating from specific locations and terrains. These are elements to coffee that provide consumers with a sense of ‘taste and place’ in their purchasing decision and coffee consumption experience,” he describes.

Bangratz at Prova further details that with the boom in biotechnologies, lab-grown food is the next agronomic revolution, and it will have applications in many areas, not just coffee. 

“This innovation from VTT will enable coffee production to be more sustainable. It neither requires cropland and could help tackle deforestation issues. We can imagine that, in the future, it will become possible to produce coffee extracts from lab-grown coffee. However, it may be a few more years before lab-grown coffee hits the shelves,” he concludes. 

By Elizabeth Green