Sunday, September 14, 2003


drug trade, take 2

not to be a total downer -- esp. on pizza day -- but when this stuff comes up, ya gotta notice it.

"but last year when world coffee prices fell to their lowest levels in a century, the 71-year-old grandfather had had enough. he tugged up his once-prized coffee plants in disgust and joined the drug trade."

i know i ranted on about this just the other day, but here it is. "i recognize what is true, whether i like it or dislike it," as a dear friend of mine in the coffee trade said the other day.

this article is on the effects of the coffee crisis in ethiopia. long-time readers may recall i've written about this before (and here and naturally here).

these drugs won't reach our shores; but again, allowing country after country to turn into narc-ocracies is not in anyone's interest. or is it?

and if so, whose? this is as fascinating a question as my famous where does your coffee dollar go?

intelligent readers can answer this question for themselves with only a little thought. what's clear is that none of this is in the average coffee lover's interest.

so why are we consumers letting it happen? after all, we make this market. we buy the coffee. we are the demand. our tastes are exact and growing ever more sophisticated.

alternatives to the current situation exist; others are in the works. . . .when you de-commodify a commodity, who wins?

if we do it correctly (see pp. 8-11), the farmer and the consumer! [this presentation was put together by none other than the great ted lingle, of the scaa.]

posted by fortune | 10:12 AM | top | link to this | email this: | | |