By the sounds of it, higher coffee bean prices would be great for the farmer right? With prices at their highest point in years the co-ops should be celebrating, right? Not quite. To understand what is going on requires a little but of history:
Farmers in the coffee belt, which stretches across Mexico and part of S. America, join local co-ops to gain a bigger, stronger voice in the market. These co-ops negotiate prices with buyers and help stabalize the amount of money recieved by farmers during hard years. Now financial speculation is driving prices to new heights and the co-ops can't keep up. In come the middle men, or coyotes, who work for large international coffee companys and can offer individual farmers the higher prices. When this happens the co-ops can't buy enough coffee to keep supplies full and then they are unable to sell enough coffee to stay afloat financially. When a co-ops collapses the farmers are left back as they were in the old days- buyers came in and paid them what ever they felt like paying because if they didn't take it the farm down the road would.
So for the sake of keep the co-ops alive, protecting farmers voices, and giving us a steady supply of tasty coffee, let's hope the prices stablize and the co-ops can get back on their feet!
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