#77 | Attracting and Retaining Farmworkers: Innovations in Colombia | Expo Lectures 2019

Skilled farmworkers are necessary to harvest specialty coffees in most parts of the world, but they are too often undervalued and invisible to the industry. A collaborative and innovative project in Colombia is attracting a dwindling labor force to actively participate in coffee production. Its main objective is to meet the needs of farmworkers, producers, and local organizations, while identifying solutions that will make employment within the coffee industry more socially viable. This lecture presents a summary of the best practices captured by this project and will guide producers and organizations to make employment within the coffee industry more attractive and socially viable for farmworkers.

Moderated by Whitney Kakos of Keurig Dr. Pepper’s Sustainable Supply Chain Program, this lecture’s panel features: Colleen Bramhall Popkin, Senior Manager in Sustainability at Keurig Dr. Pepper Inc.; Quinn Kepes, Program Director at Verité; Carlos Hernando Isaza, Coffee Program Manager at Solidaridad Colombia; Cesar Julio Diaz, General Manager of Aguadas Coffee Growers Cooperative; and Angela Paez, Sustainability Manager at RCG Coffee.

We want to let you know half of this episode will be in Spanish. If you’re not a confident Spanish-speaker, you can read a full English translation of this lecture on SCA News. Similarly, if you’re not a confident English-speaker, we also have a full Spanish translation there, too.

Special Thanks to Softengine Coffee One, Powered by SAP

This episode of the Expo 2019 Lectures podcast is supported by Softengine Coffee One, Powered by SAP.  Built upon SAP's business-leading Enterprise Resource Planning solution, Softengine Coffee One is designed specifically to quickly and easily take your small-to-medium coffee company working at any point along the coffee chain to the next level of success. Learn more about Softengine Coffee One at softengine.com, with special pricing available for SCA Members. Softengine: the most intelligent way to grow your business.

Related Links

• Read either a full English or full Spanish transcript of this episode on SCA News 
• Read more on the subject of farmworker invisibility in "Vision Check" from Issue 10 of 25 Magazine by Andrea Otte
• Read more about the Aguadas Cooperative in "Learnings from Aguadas," a 25 Magazine Online Exclusive by Andrea Otte
• Listen to other episodes of the SCA Podcast 
• Learn more about the upcoming 2020 Lecture Series at the Specialty Coffee Expo 

--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/specialty-coffee-association-podcast/message