This Brazilian Coffee Farm Must Change to Survive
Keywords:
sustainable farming, losing money, case study, Organic foods, new equipment, aging buildingsAbstract
Anna Ferreira and Ricardo Rossi, a young Brazilian couple living in the United States, had just inherited the family’s 3,000-acre coffee farm in Brazil. The couple had worked in international trade for years and had begun raising a family. Anna and Ricardo were also passionate about natural living and environmental sustainability. Now they have been presented with an opportunity to make a big change. Unfortunately, they soon realized that the last several years had seen a very weak market for coffee prices.
Based on the growing interest in organic foods, Anna Ferreira and Ricardo Rossi thought of converting the conventional coffee farm into an organic, sustainable farming model. They felt equipped to take on the challenge and make the farm profitable while honoring their values. However, upon closer inspection, they found signs of strain on the decades-old buildings, and a need for new equipment. To make matters even worse, the farm had been losing money for years. Change was necessary for the economic survival of the family legacy, but would organic coffee be the answer?
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2014 Authors Retain Copyright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).