The coffee industry is getting roasted, and not in an aromatic way..

Coffee prices are at all-time highs, but the talent gets filtered.

The coffee biz is worth over $100B globally. And the magic it produces practically fuels the planet. And it couldn't be a greater time for coffee. The lovely beverage has a status that reached being THE beverage of choice that touches everyone regardless of age or income in almost every country.

Yet for the bean growers, the talent behind the baristas, the reality bucks them far from being the stars. If you are growing the beans, prices are at 14-year lows. Coffee industry experts fear the collapse of a crop with talented farmers leaving in droves. Leaving a crop that has lifted numerous regions out of poverty. Yet, some growers are making new attempts to save themselves.

OK, so what's the problem?

This started decades ago. Coffee growers have suffered from chronic low prices — mainly due to overproduction from the world’s top producers like Brazil and Vietnam. The swings were crazy and hard to monitor.

In the not yet $5 coffee cup guzzling generation’60s, coffee growers united together to manage production forming the International Coffee Agreement in hopes that it would better control prices. Things got better and the world engulfed the bean with determination.... Until the US withdrew from the coffee club in the new wave 80s. And ever since, the price balance of consumption and production has been almost nonexistent and harder yet to understand.

Get it together, maaaaan.

You'd think things would be better these days due to the incredible 100B demand. Not quite. Unlike other commodities profitable upstreams such as oil, gas, and energy, coffee growers have become holders at the wrong end of the value chain - receiving only a small fraction of the retail price of their crop's end result.

In May, the price of beans dropped to 87 cents a pound — 33 cents less than the average $1.20 it cost to produce. It has since risen to $1.06, but, to growers, it’s still a matter of caffeine or death for the industry. Earlier this year farmers in Ethiopia were earning less than a cent per cup as global consumption continued to grow.

Now, what? ... Bring back the coffee police fortified with better tech tools

Growers are seeking new ways to combat this situation. Bringing back the idea of an alliance agreement to maintain control, and employing better tools to manage the risks from seed to cup.

Brazil recently tried to brew up a plan to climb their way out of their financial black hole. Analysts aren't bullish on the idea of recovery for farmers and industry. Growers and those that represent them are found inadequately prepared to address the issues. Found lacking in the proper solutions and tools to manage the supply and risk for the delicious coffee.

Technology has taken leaps and bounds in ways to assist industries in similar predicaments. It could be time for Coffee to wake up and get with the programs. And various countries are looking towards new tech to save the day.

Good to last digit4l drop

A huge amount of activity occurs across the coffee process. And the coffee industry produces a large amount of data. A perfect storm for good tech to come in and make things better for all. And innovative companies focused on the farmers and growers have taken good strides to help direct things properly and in the correct light. One area coffee growers risks are being addressed is in the adoption of better tools for managing risk and trading that extends better insights a farmer/grower level.

For instance, Bengaluru-headquartered digital commodity management platform Eka Software, that has Rio Tinto and agriculture major Cargill among its customers, made the first step to grow in its home market by creating a blockchain platform for coffee farmers in India. Launched in tie-up with Coffee Board of India, it’s the first marketplace on blockchain in the country. Eka’s and the India Coffee Board aims to help farmers get a good price for their product while offering coffee roasters and exporters the data on the quality of the crop. And further plans are to tie up with payment gateways so that farmers can be paid faster.

Thanks to Hustle inspiration, India times, Axios, and Eka