The model shifts farmers from price-takers to price-setters. Think of the sea change that could happen if more farmers were similarly positioned to capture most of the profits from a cup of coffee, instead of earning just a penny or two. Sustainable coffee could then be the fuel that makes the world go round.

I would like to see if producer-driven initiatives could reach more consumers. There is more of an opening for direct-to-consumer approaches and some specialty companies are doing good, interesting things. For example, I buy Pachamama coffee, which is the only producer-owned vertically integrated company I know of that is selling to U.S. consumers.

“Our business model is so unique,” says Preza. She has been doing business with U.S. coffee concerns for 30 years, has been president of Pachamama since 2013, and is general manager of Prodecoop, a Nicaragua-based cooperative. “It’s the actual coffee producer that’s putting the coffee here, and they own the company.”

Farmers based in Peru, Guatemala, and Nicaragua created the company to grow and roast beans themselves rather than sell to roasters for a fraction of what they could be earning.

This Sacramento-based coffee cooperative is the first to partner with a food cooperative , making the supply chain from farmer to roaster to barista to customer 100 percent supportive of the farmer’s wallet. It’s a rarity in a tangled global commodity market and shipping industry.