Musings on sustainable food systems, agriculture vs. agroecology, and more!
This week there has been some seriously great writing about under-the-radar topics that concern food and agriculture, but provide more general insights on the links between countries, sectors and people. I always enjoy link roundups from the blogs and newsletters I follow to get a peek into their reading lists; I hope you will, too! Drought … Continue reading North and South American Food Links (Link Roundup)
I just came back from a work trip to Colombia which had taken up all my available time and resources for weeks on end. However, in Colombia I also found inspiration and motivation for more posts, more stories, more writing. Yay for creative breaks and continuations! Colombia is a fascinating place with so many layers of … Continue reading Food Forests in Colombia
It stands to argue that Coca-Cola is one of the multinationals that elicits the strongest love-hate feelings by the public. It is vilified for its influence on global obesity rates and its undue influence on public health policies, causes outrage over the fact that the acidity of its soda dissolves egg shells, and produces accusations of hypocrisy … Continue reading Learning from Coca-Cola: Last-Mile Humanitarian Supply Chain Innovations
It seems the international media really started noticing the Venezuelan economic meltdown when the Coca-Cola factory shut its doors because it ran out of sugar. The national beer provider Empresas Polar soon followed, citing barley shortages. So, now Venezuelans are running out of coke, beer, and pretty much any basic commodity. Online videos show people running … Continue reading Economic Collapse: Tracing Where Venezuela Went Wrong
In the last weeks, I’ve been wandering between two worlds, trying to bring sense and structure into what I’ve seen and what I am reading. We are currently working on collecting field data from coffee farmers in Honduras, and I was lucky enough to visit several regions of the country while adapting our questionnaire and data … Continue reading Dispatches from the Field: Honduras
Who has the hardest job in the coffee value chain? Is it the farmer, who has to create just the right growing conditions for each single coffee plant, countering unpredictable climate, droughts and deluges, pests and diseases and an uncertain economic future year after year? The processor, who has to balance the orders he gets from … Continue reading The Hardest Job Of All
Coffee is known to have some of the most volatile prices of any agricultural commodity. The crux of agricultural markets is this: There is always an imbalance of supply and demand. If supply is smaller than demand, prices soar. This animates more producers to plant the crop in the following year to reap high earnings. … Continue reading Hey Mon, What's Up with Jamaican Coffee?
I peek around the corner of the grocery store. Well, I guess ‘store’ is a misnomer – distribution point, maybe? I am shy at first because I am wary of being an obnoxious foreigner, treating Havana as an open-air museum full of entertaining quirks that actually make up Cubans’ reality. But the clerk waves me … Continue reading State-Sponsored Food Security: The Cuban Case. Does It Work?
I can’t forget the wistful stares. “How lucky you are to come and visit us! We’d like to travel as well and see the world.” Legally, there is no problem anymore since the exit visa requirement was abolished in 2013. Yet, economically it is impossible for the vast majority of Cuban citizens. Average public-sector … Continue reading Cuba: Lessons to be Learned for Sustainable Living?
Hello? Is anybody still out there? I have to give a heartfelt apology for my absence recently, but it came with much work, much travels, and much activity that have left me scrambling to tend to my little blog. However, I am back now, and hopefully for good! The content and intensity of this blog … Continue reading Things I've … Written!
