Country Platform's rally across Brazil
Country Platform’s rally across Brazil
The Country Platform in Brazil continues its sustainability rally across the country. Several field visits and discussions around coffee sustainability were held in April, in which the role of the Country Platform was relevant not only for its expertise, its coffee Sustainability Curriculum or its ability to connect several stakeholders, but mainly because of its intensive work that inspires Global Coffee Platform’s member to focus on local action activities with concrete results.
Take a look at the compilation of activities during this month:
Minasul’s Vitrine do Campo (Field Showcase)
Minasul, responsible for receiving coffee from 150 municipalities in Minas Gerais – 80% specialty coffee – gave its 6.000 associates the opportunity to experience new technologies for coffee production through “Vitrine do Campo” held in 8 cities around the state.
The cooperative aims to add value and show real results to coffee farmers by bringing them new technologies and possibilities of harvest planning, besides strengthening the engagement between the cooperative, growers and partners. Agronomists and technicians used the Coffee Sustainability Curriculum (CSC) as a guide in field visits and presentations.
Conilon Quality Symposium
The first edition of Conilon (Robusta) Quality Symposium took place in April, in Linhares, Espírito Santo state with a series of field visits and lectures about coffee grading, quality, sustainability, family succession, certification and tasting sessions. Pedro Ronca, GCP Brazil Program’s manager, talked about sustainability and certification in Conilon production.
The event promoted the production of higher quality Conilon and motivated sharing such knowledge between coffee growers, technicians and other players while contributing for a more sustainable coffee sector.
First National Advisory Board (NAB) meeting in 2018
The National Advisory Board (NAB) assembled in March, in São Paulo, for an update about GCP Brazil Program’s activities and goals for 2018. Trainings of technicians/growers, Sustainability Indicators, the Coffee Sustainability Curriculum (CSC), the Sustainability Catalogue, the Global Coffee Sustainability Conference, Membership Initiatives and Coffee&Climate were among the issues.
The CSC App data security was also an important issue discussed during the event. Pedro Ronca, GCP Brazil Program’s manager, clarified that all information inputs on the app will be protected by a specialized company called Campos Consultores. All of the reports generated by the CSC App will contain consolidated information (by coffee region or state), meaning that no data from specific institutions will be disclosed.
18 GCP members/partners are already testing and/or using the CSC App, comprising 501 coffee producers and 132 agronomists. The app will ideally be adopted and regularly used by 5 institutions by the end of 2018 while monitoring the implementation of CSC practices, the Fundamental Items and GCP’s Sustainability Indicators.
Coffee, climate & sustainability indicators
The third Community of Practices (CoP) meeting for climate changes adaptation – supported by the Coffee&Climate initiative – took place in Boa Esperança, Minas Gerais on April 3-4. Several discussions were held regarding the indicators, their results, specific measurement and resiliency impact.
By establishing indicators, it is possible to collect information leading to identify some of the coffee growers’ biggest challenges, such as soil productivity capacity, water quality and economical balance.
Among the 30 participants was Victor Vargas, from ICAFE (Costa Rica), who shared his knowledge related to the mitigation of carbon emissions. Pedro Ronca, manager for GCP Brazil Program, presented the CSC Fundamental Items Implementing Manual, emphasizing the relevance of Sustainability Indicators to measure sustainability on the field. The CoP group discussed and suggested improvements related to these topics.
Click here to find out more information about Brazil’s Country Platform and its activities
