3rd Coffee Producer Advisory Council Meeting

3rd Coffee Producer Advisory Council Meeting

The third meeting of the Coffee Producer Advisory Council (CCC) was held in Medellin, Colombia, August 29 & 30, 2007.  The meeting was made possible by the gracious support of local host, Hernando Restrepo of Expocafe and his team who coordinated all of the local travel logistics to the lovely Juan Jaramillo educational facility ion Venecia.

The primary focus of the third CCC meeting was to analyze the US market demand for FTC coffee and the supply needed to fill the growing demand. The discussions were intended to address CCC members’ questions that arose from Paul Rice’s presentation of the TFUSA 5 year business plan and related topics from the Miami meeting.  The agenda was organized around the opportunities and barriers to US market growth. A key aspect of the discussions was the competitiveness of the Fair Trade Certified (FLO) system, such as competition with other labels, certification costs, the participation of TNCs in the chain of custody of FTC coffee, new products and the FLO coffee price.

At the close of the meeting, members were asked to reflect on the value of the CCC to date, and what they’d like to see for the future and continued existence of the CCC. In an evaluation of the CCC initiative to date, the members concurred that it has been highly valuable as an opportunity for important information exchange acknowledging the depth of discussion and analysis among the members, addressing common issues from a variety of perspectives, understanding more about the largest market for FTC coffee and to provide input into TFUSA work plan for coffee.  

The next meeting will be held in February 2008, in Oakland California. The agenda will encourage dialogue between CCC members and industry on a variety of issues of mutual interest.  We will also plan a tour of local businesses as part of setting the context for the meeting.

The Executive Summary of the notes from this meeting or previous meetings are below.

Executive Summary of the 1st Meeting of the Coffee Advisory Council (CCC)

Summary of the 2nd Meeting of the Coffee Advisory Council (CCC)

Summary of the 3rd Meeting of the Coffee Advisory Council (CCC)