For many consumers and professionals in the sector, specialty coffees and direct trade are interconnected. Building strong, mutually beneficial working relationships between growers and roasters is often seen as the cornerstone of establishing a truly sustainable supply chain.
Likewise, there may be a fair share of smaller roasters that establish long-term partnerships with small producers to work closely together.
At the same time, farmers need capital and resources to grow specialty coffees, so larger farms often have more capacity to invest in improving quality and yields.
Both examples are certainly true – with small and large farms playing a huge role in global specialty coffee production. So where are the medium-sized coffee producers?
According to Ana Sofia Narvaez, Relationship Builder at Caravela Coffee, when it comes to land areas larger than five hectares, it becomes more difficult to identify exactly the size of the farms. Ultimately, it depends on the country of origin itself, since the scale of production is a determining factor.
“A producer in Brazil who has a 25 ha farm is probably considered small-scale,” says Ana, who is the customer relationship manager at Doselva – an organic seasoning company that operates in Central America. “But in the context of Nicaragua, a farm of this size is average.
“However, in the context of the same country, a producer with a 200 ha farm may think that a 25 ha farm is small”, he adds.
Another useful indicator of farm size is whether a producer carries out its own post-harvest processing practices on site, including:
Processing (such as washed, natural, honey or more advanced techniques) and drying
Wet method (removing the seeds from the coffee cherry pulp)
Dry way (removing the parchment from the grains)
Peeling, sorting and sorting
Some small-scale producers may own or use micromills or, alternatively, transport their cherries to larger facilities to be processed by others. Meanwhile, medium and large farms are more likely to operate or have access to larger facilities that process larger volumes of coffee.
Geographic context is still important here, however in Central America, for example, many producers process their own coffee regardless of farm size.
Firstly, it is extremely important to emphasize that every farm that grows coffee with a score of 80 points or higher has a place in the specialty coffee industry – no matter its size or whether it processes its own coffee.
Specialty coffees often focus mainly on small producers. According to TechnoServe, more than 80% of the world's 12.5 million small coffee farming families live below the poverty line. Developing more resilient, long-term relationships with these producers and purchasing more coffee from them is an important step towards improving their yields and thus supporting them in increasing quality and income.
Meanwhile, it's generally easier to see where larger farms might fit into specialty coffee production. Because these producers are considerably more likely to have more resources available and better access to capital, they can often invest more in improving quality or even experiment with new and advanced processing techniques with greater success on certain batches.
A producer who has a well-structured processing and drying station is more likely to maintain consistent quality standards with greater volumes of coffee sold.
The level of coffee quality ultimately depends on each farm, its commercial objectives and access to resources and financing.
Processing methods, weather and terrain conditions, access to technology, implementation of best practices and available varieties also need to be accounted for.
As they will have more staff, medium and large farms will be more likely to be able to control and manage these different variables more effectively – and thus increase the volumes of specialty coffee they produce.
Brazilian coffee production reached a harvest of 55.1 million bags of 60kg processed in 2023, an increase of 8.2% in relation to the 2022 cycle, as shown in the 4th Coffee Survey 2023, released by the National Coffee Company. Supply (Conab) in December 2023.
The increase is influenced by the recovery in productivity, around 6.3%, reaching 29.4 bags harvested per hectare.
The good result reflects the recovery in production of Arabica coffee crops, which represents 70.7% of the total volume of coffee produced in the country. With production of 38.9 million bags, growth of 18.9%, caused by more favorable weather conditions. The increase in production in the current harvest enabled both the recovery in domestic supply and in sales to the international market.
With all this growth, the market favors the growth of all coffee producers, especially small and small ones. midsize.
The ultra-premium market
Producers looking to enter the ultra-premium coffee market must continually innovate, whether by perfecting their processing methods or planting rare varieties.
Trial and error is an essential aspect, along with developing a deep understanding of best agricultural practices.
The advantages of buying coffee from medium-sized farms
Of course, there are benefits to sourcing coffee from farms of any size, but medium and large producers will naturally sell higher volumes – and potentially a greater variety of coffees, including different varieties and processing methods.
These producers will also be able to have more streamlined operations and have greater control over production costs. They may also have better access to financing and credit for coffee production and may have greater negotiating power when selling their coffee.
Medium and large farms can, in theory, also implement changes to their agricultural practices more efficiently. The task may be too challenging (or even impossible) for some small farmers who have less access to capital, especially those who cannot risk a drop in quality or income.
That's not to say, however, that managing larger farms and larger workforces isn't also difficult. With higher production volumes, producers need to hire more employees – including seasonal pickers – which requires more training and investment.
No matter its size, every coffee farm will face its own unique challenges and advantages. And to better support the specialty coffee industry, roasters should strive to source coffee from diverse producers.
With the improvement of planting and processing techniques by small producers and the increase in demand for specialty coffee, small producers who achieve better quality of their beans will gain more space in the market and expand the entire supply of top quality specialty coffees.
But given the focus on small producers and large coffee farms, it can be easy to forget that mid-sized producers also play a key role in specialty coffee. The appreciation of all categories of producers is very important for the growth of the entire network that encompasses the world of coffee.
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