Who is paying the price?
World of Coffee 2019 | Berlín, Alemania
6 de junio de 2019 14:00 – 15:30 Salón Stuttgart/19
Parte trasera Sala 1.1: Segundo piso, Messe Berlín
The price crisis in the coffee market is a topic of discussion every day among coffee experts. However, you rarely hear what the small producers have to say at this side of the globe.
Prices paid to producers, determined by the International Stock Exchanges, are well below their survival limits, while consumers continue to pay more each day for their each time more sophisticated cup of coffee and while supermarkets offer fair trade and organic coffees at discount-prices.
While market players debate the exacerbated crisis with relative calm regretting the situation of small producers, the economic, social and ecological consequences of this situation are dramatic for millions of these families in the world. Entire regions are in a state of emergency. Thinking about long-term solutions is not enough.
Who is to blame, who pays for the broken dishes and who is willing to assume co-responsibilities and commit to real solutions in the face of the price crisis?
In this conference, we will be acquainted with the experience, vision and the proposals and demands facing this situation, on behalf of small coffee producers Yuridia Pillimué (FONDO PAEZ, Colombia) and Nelson Melo Maya (ORGANICA, Colombia). They are, at the same time, representatives of SPP Global, a network of some 500,000 families of small producers democratically organized in more than 120 organizations in thirty production countries.
Kim Elena Ionescu, Chief of Sustainability of the Specialty Coffee Association, SCA, will accompany us as moderator at this conference, demonstrating her concern and commitment to take action in the face of the crisis. In addition, Jerónimo Pruyn, Executive Director of SPP Global and with extensive experience in the fair and sustainable trade sector, particularly in representation of small producers and rooted in the coffee sector will contribute information on challenges and opportunities current markets offer.
| 13:00 | Presentation and Introduction: The debate on the situation of the coffee market and the voice of small producers | Kim Elena Ionescu Directora de Sustentabilidad | SCA EEUU |
| 13:15 | Perspective towards the coffee crisis as female Colombian indigenous leader of a small producers’ association. | Yuridia Pillimué Ul Productora Representante Comité Normas SPP | FONDO PAEZ Colombia |
| 13:30 | Perspectives of organized small coffee producers: hard realities, unnegotiable costs and values | Nelson Melo Maya Productor Representante Consejo Directivo SPP | ORGANICA Colombia |
| 13:45 | Small producers market perspectives for true sustainability, challenges, achievements and potentialities | Jerónimo Pruyn Director Ejecutivo | SPP Global México |
| 14:00 | Press Communiqué SPP Global | Nelson Melo Maya Jerónimo Pruyn | |
| 14:15 | Session for Questions & Answers | Kim Elena Ionescu | |
| 14:30 | Closure | Kim Elena Ionescu |
Kim Elena Ionescu
SPECIALITY COFFEE ASSOCIATION (SCA)
In her role as Chief Sustainability Officer of the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA), Kim Elena Ionescu raises awareness, develops strategy, and leads action to address the social, environmental, and economic challenges facing the coffee industry. Prior to joining the SCA in 2015, Kim spent a decade buying coffee and directing sustainability for Counter Culture Coffee in North Carolina, USA, where she resides with her husband and two daughters. And although these days she is more likely to be found working behind desks and podiums than cupping tables and espresso machines, Kim believes that sustainability must be firmly embedded in every stage of the coffee value chain.
Yuridia Pillmue
ASOCIACION KWE’SX UMA KIWE PËYKÄJN MJINXISA-FONDO PAEZ
PAIS: COLOMBIA
CARGO: REPRESENTANTE LEGAL DESDE 2016-2018 LUEGO REELEJIDA 2018-2020
I have been part of the Association since its inception in 1996, having just finished secondary school, helping as a secretary in the Association, then 4 years as treasurer for marketing and 4 years coordinating the central coffee coffee collection and 2 years as Assistant accounting officer in the Association. I have been responsible for the certification program at an external level to represent my organization in both organic and fair trade certification since 2005. Now I am the first female leader as legal representative of my Association and at the same time president of the committee of standards in the SPP.
Nelson Melo
ORGANIZACIÓN: ASOCIACIÓN DE PRODUCTORES ORGANICOS DE CAUCA ORGANICA
PAÍS: COLOMBIA
Producer of high quality and certified organic coffee. Legal representative of the Organic Producers Association of Cauca ORGANICA, in Colombia, producers and exporters of organic coffee. He has been a principal member of the CLA and CLAC CD and CLAC Strengthening Manager.
He was General Secretary of the Colombian Initiative of Small Producers of Fair Trade Solidarity and sustainable for 8 years. He has supported the work of the SPP since its inception and since 2016 in the vice presidency and since June 2018 in the Presidency of the Board of Directors of SPP Global, “considering it the right path for consumers and producers and is the model that should continue to be promoted in the local and international market. ”
Jerónimo Pruijn
DIRECTOR EJECUTIVO SPP GLOBAL
Jerónimo Pruijn has a Master’s Degree in Anthropology and is originally from the Netherlands. He has lived in Mexico for nearly 30 years. He began his work with Fair Trade at the end of the 80s as a volunteer in the first Fair Trade label, Max Havelaar Holland. All his professional life has worked for organizations, networks and companies of organizations of small producers. He worked in the Union de Ejidos de la Selva, in Chiapas, Mexico from 1991 to 1994 in community development and with women’s groups. Subsequently, he was Executive Director of the coffee chain Café La Selva, of the Network Against Extreme Poverty, of Comercio Justo México, of the Mexican Coordinator of Small Producers of Fair Trade, of the Latin American and Caribbean Coordinator of Small Producers of Commerce. Just (CLAC), AGROMERCADOS and SERJUSTO. Represented CLAC in the Fairtrade International Standards Committee from 2007 to 2013. From 2009 to date, he serves as Executive Director of the organization ‘SPP Global’, an intercontinental network of organizations of small organic producers, owner of the SPP, Symbol of Small Producers, based in Mexico City and with a presence in 50 countries of producers and consumers.
