STiR coffee and tea magazine

STiR coffee and tea 15 NEWS hood of farmers and their families increased. While there are times that this [liveli- hood] can be like nailing Jello to a wall, the fact of the matter is we want to help farmers improve quality, understand their cost of production, while simultaneously developing markets for their coffee. Any approach that doesn't improve quality and find markets is missing the mark. The ultimate desire is to see coffee as a sustainable venture for coffee farmers and to be a part of creating a better life for them and their families. STiR: As an exporter, please describe the importance of coffee education to the success of your opera- tion. What is the effect of a good education program on your employees and customers? Heinze: Education programs across all ends of the supply chain are important. Or- ganizations like the Specialty Coffee Association have done a fantastic job bringing awareness to and equipping the consuming side of the industry on how to honor the hard work done by the producers' side in showcasing amazing quality. Where I get excited is working with farmers to help them improve quality to hand off a fantastic product to the highly trained/equipped consuming side of our industry. This doesn't even take into consideration the education programs we have for our employees. All our staff have cupping experience. Not all are licensed but they all know their way around a table and can articulate their sensory perceptions. It's important for me to continue building this professional skill in them and help them understand more and more. I've been amazed at how this has enriched and enhanced their work experience. Overall, I value the fact that as an exporter, I can speak the same language with the farmer, our staff, and our potential buyers when talking about the sensorial aspects of coffee. Having education programs such as Coffee Quality Institute and SCA make this possible. STiR: In China, what are your biggest challenges in exporting? What are your main markets? Heinze: We have been exporting coffees from this region for five years now. Every year it gets easier. There were lots of firsts that our company has been a part of, and it has been a blast working with customs/quarantine departments to help write policy for the export of specialty coffee. We have had the pleasure of talking through with these officials the ins and outs of exporting specialty coffee and they have been great to work with. Of course, there is paperwork to do, but China is becoming more and more advanced with online reporting, which has helped immensely. Our company is now providing export services and consulting to other companies in different industries. I believe this is a huge value our company brings into the supply chain. On the farm side of things. The current opportunities for growth here in China regarding production are focused on post-harvest processing, farm management, and traceability. Though there is extensive access to high quality machinery and various technology, the historical experience is still quite minimal and so the learning curve is still quite steep. There is a significant benefit that China as it has not been pigeon-holed or defined by generations of "the way things are done", but at the same time, there is a lot yet to learn and discover when it comes to post-harvest processing. We have been working over the last couple of years to improve harvesting techniques, procedures and quality control at the wet mill, and refining dry milling to lead to production of large volumes of specialty coffee. Farm management is another opportunity for growth that we have here. Pruning tech- niques, fertilizer regiments, and multi-crop/agroforestry systems are things farmers hear about and practice, but a lot of work still needs to be done in providing proper training and education for these. We are passionate about helping farmers pursue sus- tainable agricultural practices and at the same time learning about their costs of pro- duction, so they can live in a little bigger space between costs and sale price. Our main markets right now are Australia, the US, and Western Europe. We continue to receive requests almost weekly and I believe are poised to expand rapidly over the next several years.

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