Coffee, being a fruit, comes from the earth and from the effort made and the care taken by the producer who manages the coffee trees. Therefore, coffee farmers are the starting point of the value chain of this agricultural commodity, one of the most important in the international trade.

Growing and harvesting coffee require knowledge and experience. There are many factors that influence the quality of the crop. These factors are often unpredictable due to Nature’s changing character and farmers must be able to properly address them in order to ensure a good production and, therefore, their income.

It usually takes 3 years after planting for coffee to start producing coffee in a significant amount. During this time, the farmer will have to take care of the trees without any return. And during the productive life of the coffee trees, she will have to manage them by feeding them with fertilisers, protecting them from pests and diseases, pruning, etc., in order to obtain coffee in sufficient quantity and with a certain quality, so that he can ask for a good price when selling his coffee lots.

In Arabica, from flowering to harvesting, it usually takes 8-9 months. Depending on the environmental conditions, the coffee tree may have flowers, unripe fruit and ripe fruit at the same time. That’s why, in general, coffee is harvested by hand, even though there are some regions in a handful of countries where harvesting is mechanised. Also, coffee is grown mainly by smallholder farmers and their families, who often lack the resources to buy expensive machinery.

The coffee cherry must be harvested in the exact degree of maturity in order to optimise the cup quality potential, and in order to recognise that precise moment, the farmer needs knowledge and experience. Therefore farmers, along with their skills and care, are the first quality control point in the production of coffee on its journey to the final consumer.

Coffee is grown in tropical regions. It is difficult to establish an overall classification of the coffee producer figure, since in coffee we talk about many countries with very different social, economic, environmental and legal conditions. However, one figure is worthy of note: around 80-90% of coffee farmers are small in size, with few hectares and often less than one. In many cases, they do not live exclusively from the income generated by their coffee farms. They often grow other crops and work in other activities in order to meet their financial needs.

The majority of these farmers delivers cherries to bulking companies (washing stations, cooperatives, etc.) on the day the cherries are harvested. Production costs represent a high percentage of the price farmers receive, therefore it’s important to them receiving the fruit of their hard work as soon as posible, in local currency and without major hindrances.

Other producers, with larger infrastructure, will also process the cherries to dry cherry or dry parchment and then deliver them to dry mills. Even less common, some producers are also able to process up to the green bean stage, milling, classifying, storing and exporting the coffee on their own.

We can safely conclude that the coffee producers’ work is the hardest and riskiest in all the supply chain, and without them, the international coffee trade would not exist. Therefore it is paramount to value and give visibility to the effort farmers make in order to allow consuming countries to enjoy this special and renowned drink.