Making Coffee Equitable For All
Research Hub
Below are a set of resources that can inform how and why farmer-ownership and cooperative business models create a more sustainable, profitable future for farmers. Try out the links below or contact us directly - info@pachamamacoffee.com
Academia and Industry
Nicholas Porchet
Farmer-Owned Enterprises and the Governance of Value in Global Value Chains
"What happens when farmers don't just supply raw materials but co-own the enterprises that brand, transform, and sell them?...Ownership reshapes the entire value process – not only how profits are shared, but also how economic and non-economic value are generated, governed, and distributed."
A comparative study of five farmer-owned enterprises, including Pachamama Coffee, looking at how ownership design actually shapes who captures value in global supply chains. It breaks down the governance mechanisms that make farmer ownership meaningful rather than symbolic.
Elizabeth A. Bennet & Janina Grabs
Rethinking the 'necessary' trade-offs to distributing value to suppliers: An analysis of the profit sharing model
"...profit sharing can distribute value without requiring suppliers to compromise price stability, profit maximization, value creation, or alternative economic opportunities."
A Harvard discussion paper questions the assumption that fairer profit sharing with suppliers must come at a real cost to businesses. It analyzes actual profit-sharing models to challenge that trade-off.
Andrea Armeni, Curt Lyon & Julie Menter
Alternative Ownership: Moving Beyond Shareholder Primacy to Reward All Stakeholders
"We need models that limit the profit-maximizing drive of outside investors and allow other stakeholders the opportunity to influence and financially benefit from the companies that affect their lives."
An SSIR article making the case for ownership structures, like employee stock ownership plans and cooperatives, that share power beyond shareholders. It's aimed at impact investors looking to back more equitable business models.
International Coffee Organization
Coffee Development Report 2019 – Growing for prosperity: Economic viability as the catalyst for a sustainable coffee sector
"More direct, stable and transparent supply chains enable the channeling of better incentives that promote the economic viability of coffee farming."
The ICO's first Coffee Development Report examines what drives coffee price volatility and lays out solutions for building a more economically viable coffee sector. It combines global market data with concrete recommendations for producers, companies, and governments.
Peter W. Roberts
From Supply and Demand to Numbers, Networks, and Narratives: Confronting the Commodification of Specialty Coffee Producers
Roberts traces specialty coffee's pricing problem to poor farmer access to price information, outdated market connections, and a scarcity-based pricing narrative that hasn't caught up with quality differentiation. He surveys fixes for the first two issues, then calls on economic sociologists to help shift the underlying narrative.
SCIENCE DIRECT
Karl Wienhold and Peter Roberts
Is the rising tide of specialty coffee lifting all boats?
"While there is evidence of green coffee price increases as producers move into specialty coffee, these are not aligned with dramatic increases in retail prices."
A peer-reviewed study tests whether specialty coffee's higher retail prices actually translate into better pay for farmers, using price data across commercial, certified, and specialty markets. It finds that producers typically capture only 11 to 20 percent of retail price, well below the 23.5 percent benchmark for undifferentiated commodity coffee, meaning most of the value from "upgrading" to specialty coffee is captured downstream rather than passed back to growers.
The Real Price of Coffee and Steps Towards a Sustainable Future
"Purchase coffee directly from the farmer. This is the most impactful action a consumer can take to ensure the farmer earns more of the final retail price."
A one-page primer on why coffee farmers see so little of what consumers pay, and what buyers can actually do about it. It points to direct trade and certified coffee as practical starting points.
Ensuring Economic Viability and Sustainability of Coffee Consumption
"...we believe there is a clear opportunity for coffee sector actors to work together to take the sustainable development path, and to achieve greater sustainability within coffee production and in coffee-growing regions."
An in-depth report modeling the economics behind the coffee sector's sustainability crisis, from climate impacts on yields to consolidation among roasters and retailers. It proposes a global fund and collective action framework to help stabilize farmer incomes long-term.
Responsible Coffee Sourcing: Towards a living income for producers
"Coffee companies have a responsibility to enable producers in their supply chains to achieve a living income and to ensure that farmworkers receive a living wage."
A report evaluating how major coffee companies' sourcing practices measure up against living income and living wage benchmarks across ten producing countries. It profiles specific companies, from Starbucks to Lavazza, on where they fall short.
Cooperation for the Transition to a Green Economy: Global Thematic Research Report
"Through their ownership structures and dedication to members, cooperatives have an enormous advantage in their resistance to short-termism, their preservation of assets and (indivisible) reserves, and hence consideration of future generations."
A global research report from the International Cooperative Alliance profiling cooperatives worldwide leading on climate and environmental action, from renewable energy to sustainable housing and forestry. It draws on case studies across five continents to show how the cooperative model supports a green economy transition.
Cooperatives in the coffee value chains of Guatemala: their contribution to achieving social, labor, and environmental objectives (in Spanish)
"...cooperatives contribute to building sustainable and relational value chains with a triple bottom line that includes social, labour and environmental objectives."
An academic study, in Spanish, examining how cooperative-led coffee value chains in Guatemala differ from investor-led ones and what that means for social, labor, and environmental outcomes. The authors argue cooperatives help build more sustainable, relational supply chains.
The Grounds for Sharing: A study of value distribution in the coffee industry
"The sector has an opportunity to proactively address value creation and (re)distribution in a way that enables farmers to prosper and companies to work on long-term supply stability and viability of their business models in an ever more volatile world."
A detailed study of how value moves along the coffee supply chain, with country-level breakdowns for Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Vietnam. It compares farmer net income against the cost of decent living and recommends fixes.
More from the cup: Better returns for East African Coffee Producers
"...groups of producers, supported and working together, could earn significantly higher margins by transforming their green beans into branded coffee in international markets."
An ITC report on how East African coffee producers can capture more value through direct trade, branding, e-commerce, and stronger business partnerships. It draws on real case studies from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and beyond.
Reshaping Value Distribution in the Coffee Supply Chain
"...people throughout the coffee sector know the system should change, but structural barriers, power imbalances, and economic risks keep the sector operating the way it does. Closing this gap means transforming the knowing–doing gap from a barrier into a bridge—moving from shared awareness to coordinated action, from individual efforts to systemic change"
The report surveys 235 people from over 60 countries on how they see value being created and shared across the coffee industry. It finds the divide between current practice and a fairer ideal has closed somewhat, though views on how much progress has actually been made vary widely depending on where someone sits in the sector.
How to Make a Sustainability a Shared Practice
"By discovering and developing sustainability solutions with, rather than for impacted communities, and deeply embedding them in our organizations’ purpose, governance, finance, networks, and ownership, we can all move toward a system where value is shared more equitably, making coffee better for all."
This guide introduces the SCA’s Sustainable Design Framework: a practical framework for building and continuously evolving sustainability solutions that create shared value across the coffee sector.
London Business School
Assessing Social Return: Pachamama Coffee Co-op (Business Case Study)
"How should [Pachamama] communicate the value of the business to the socially oriented investor that [it] was seeking?"
A business case study tracing the founding of Pachamama Coffee Co-op in 2001, when farmer owners set out to bypass importers and roasters to capture more margin for small scale growers. It includes early financial exhibits and income projections for the startup
