Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/961821
18 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 2, 2018 (April / May) Gordon Tredger is named Loring's new president variety of companies including Motorola Canada, Photovac Incorporated, Perkin-Elmer, Argonaut Technologies, Varian, Inc., and Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. Women coffee workers in Kenya Photo Credit: Photo by Evan Gilman The two companies are connecting Ambrosus' Blockchain IoT solution with the alliance's network of farmers, roasters, product developers, manufacturers, and retailers to find efficiencies and help farmers earn a fair wage for their efforts, according to a March 7 Ambrosus statement. The partnership wants to correct problems in the global coffee value chain. Ambrosus noted that while coffee revenues worldwide have jumped from $30 billion in 1991 to $81 billion in 2016, Fairtrade International statistics show smallholder coffee farmers have watched their incomes drop 30% during the same period. "This is a truly transformative partnership that captures the full essence and spirit of Swiss ingenuity," said Claudinei Monteiro, Swiss Coffee Alliance's chief technology officer. "With [the alliance's] deep sector expertise and Ambrosus' unrivaled decentralized supply-chain solution, we are going to create a more profitable and equitable ecosystem for all parties in the production line, with a key emphasis on those who have been abandoned by Wall Street," he said. US Coffee Must Display Cancer Warning A California judge has issued a ruling that coffee sold in the state must display a cancer warning label. The Proposition 65 warning label, long fought by coffee companies and the National Coffee Association (NCA), are mandated in California on 900 products that contain known carcinogens. Roasted coffee contains small amounts of acrylamide, a chemical created when coffee is heated. Star- bucks and other retailers argued that coffee overall is healthy, benefitting drinkers and that the presence of acrylamide is helpful in reducing microbial contamination and to render coffee palatable. Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle found that the coffee industry had failed to demonstrate acrylamide poses no significant harm. He also found the defendants arguments that coffee itself has some health benefit "was not persuasive," according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. NCA president and c.e.o. Bill Murray said, "This lawsuit has made a mockery of Prop 65, has confused consumers, and does nothing to improve public health." A final ruling, identical in wording, and describing penalties is expected to follow shortly. Tredger Joins Loring Gordon Tredger recently joined Loring Smart Roast as its new company president. Tredger will oversee all aspects of the company, according to a Loring statement. Tredger replaces Robert Austin, who retired from the post and joined the com- pany's board of directors. Tredger brings more than 30 years' experience in finance, operation, and general management to the job. The Toronto native has held finance and management positions with a Grounds for Health Grounds for Health, a Vermont-based organization dedicated to women's health around the world, is the inaugural recipi- ent of the National Coffee Association's Origin Charity of the Year Award. The new award recognizes organizations around the world that help coffee farmers overcome challenges. Finalists for the award were Coffeelands Trust and The Coffee Trust. Smallholder farmers across the world, regardless of the crop they farm, face a wide array of challenges - from weather and changing climate, to the infrastructure issues prevalent across developing nations, such as a lack of medical care, schools, and other services, the National Coffee Association (NCA) said in a statement. Grounds for Health "demonstrates the power of focusing on a problem that has a solution." Grounds for Health addresses one of the most significant disparities in women's health globally. Cervical cancer is a nearly 10% preventable disease, and yet in the next 15 years it is expected to kill six million women - 90% of whom will live in developing countries. Considering that women do an estimated 70% of the fieldwork on coffee farms globally, providing basic screenings and preventative care can have a provide significant help for families, farms, and communities, the NCA said. The award was presented March 16 at NCA's annual convention. "We are honored to have been selected as the first winners of the NCA Origin Charity of the Year Award," said Ellen Starr, executive director of Grounds for Health. "Our work in the coffee regions of Latin American and East Africa has been supported in great measure by the coffee industry. This award highlights our shared commitment to providing cervical cancer prevention for women in the coffee lands. Our relationship demonstrates just how much social change can be achieved when an industry fundamentally cares about its people at every step of the supply chain." Learn more: www.groundsforhealth.org California Coffee Frinj Coffee, suppliers of Southern California-grown green coffee to retailer Blue Bottle, recently signed a letter of intent to obtain three million coffee root cuttings by 2022 from Front Range Biosciences (FRB). Colorado-based FRB is known for its work in the cannabis industry. The company guarantees producers its seedlings will arrive virtually identical and free of pesticides and disease. The company is working with two dozen farms to provide the Gesha and Caturra seedlings. Learn more: www.frinjcoffee.com