From Supply and Demand to Numbers, Networks, and Narratives: Confronting the Commodification of Specialty Coffee Producers
(Room 24 C)
12 Apr 26
10:00 AM
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10:45 AM
In this lecture, Professor Peter Roberts from Emory University shares insights from his recent book, called "From Supply and Demand to Numbers, Networks, and Narratives: Confronting the Commodification of Specialty Coffee Producers." This book poses an important question for coffee professionals: As expanding specialty markets call for higher-quality coffees produced and transacted in certain ways, why is there not a widespread expectation that the producers who grow these differentiated coffees should receive prices that are commensurate with the economic value they create? Relying on more than a decade of observation and industry engagement, Roberts does not accept that problematic pricing is the direct result of ongoing problems with global supply and demand. The real problems are that the people who grow differentiated coffees do not have access to relevant price information and that they have outdated market connections. These numbers and networks problems are exacerbated by a more fundamental problem. Conversations about the value of green specialty coffees remain rooted in an outdated pricing narrative. After presenting these core arguments, this lecture outlines mosaic of promising market interventions that address the numbers and networks problems before explaining why an outdated pricing narrative is so hard to change.