jscott14 wrote:

I am not going to be able to offer you much of what you asked for, but I'm genuinely interested in learning more along with you. I understand coffees from Uganda to be quite varied (having both wet processed and naturally processed coffees). They've come a LONG way in the last decade in improving their techniques, but still have the potential to improve more.
While I'm not very educated on green buying, I listen to coffee podcasts regularly, and one of my favorite topics has to do with sustainability and ethics of green buying.
In a VERY recent April Coffee podcast with James Hoffman, he was asked about his biggest "A Ha!" moment in his coffee journey. I'll do a poor job of paraphrasing his lengthy (and well-thought) answer, but in short, his most eye-opening discovery was the endemic injustice in the green buying industry. His World Atlas of Coffee book has chapters dedicated to coffees from many of the world's great producing regions (and Uganda is in the second edition of that book). However, he said that literally EVERY chapter focusing on a different country could be sub-titled: "And how the white man exploited it for financial gain."
His insights into the true depths of the problem were interesting... but mostly sad. The injustice is rooted so deeply, it feels impossible to change. Thus, he concluded that he somewhat laments being a PART of the very industry that is unfair to its very core... yet he feels like NOT participating in the system will do nothing to help the problem. One of the biggest issues has to do with where the risk and reward lies. Almost ALL of the risk lies on the farmer. Maybe he has a good year and a good crop, maybe he doesn't. This risk is his. But the reward is the green BUYER. If the farmer's crop is bad, a buyer simply won't buy from that farmer. They buy somewhere else and still sell their coffee. Meanwhile, that farmer may or may not be able to give the coffee farm another year in hopes of a better crop.
So perhaps the "answer" to this problem is putting some of the risk on the BUYER. Perhaps a roaster finds a farmer with good techniques, good QC, and good sample batches of beans. A roaster could then, in theory, have a direct contract with that farmer for their beans at a pre-determined price (MUCH higher than C-market prices). If the year's harvest doesn't cup as well as expected, it's unfortunate for the roaster. They'll end up buying beans that aren't as good as what they thought they would be. But perhaps the beans can still work in a blend of some type. The farmer, however, still gets money for a crop that might otherwise not even break even. You see, the risk is shared between supplier and buyer. But the flipside (reward) is also true. If it's a BANNER year for the crop, the roaster is still locked into a pre-agreed price, and has exclusive access to some incredible beans!
Of course, it's more complex than simply talking to a farmer and agreeing on a price. The beans still have to be processed... they still have to be exported... there are going to be other entities involved.
I'm sorry that this is long-winded. I'm keenly interested in what you are wanting to do, and if you'd like to PM me, we can discuss this further.

jbrux4 wrote:

I went to Uganda in 2008 on a solo trip - and this was pre me even being into Coffee. Well, my wife was into coffee, so I came upon some coffee from Mt. Elgon. At that time, this was the best coffee I had ever tasted. My wife was impressed as well. This was my 1st experience ever seeking and purchasing a "specialty" coffee.

Anyways, thanks for mentioning Uganda - brought back some good and some not so good memories.