• Youth and gender in coffee

    Our business case for an inclusive coffee industry

Lutheran World Relief sponsors 2021 Producer & Roaster Forum — 5 & 6 April 2021

The 2021 Producer & Roaster Forum brings coffee roasters and producers together in producing countries, resulting in strong, long-term relationships, conversations about the real issues and innovations in the industry, and green bean sales. Lutheran World Relief is sponsoring the virtual forum this year to make the business case for engaging women and youth in the Central American coffee industry.

Coffee farmers are aging and climate change, dropping coffee prices and other challenges are driving young people away from farms in search of more economic opportunity. At the same time, we are seeing an increase in the involvement of women as coffee growers and entrepreneurs in general in Central America. The future growth of the global coffee industry depends on youth and women becoming coffee farmers now.

Watch

Learn more about the current challenges and opportunities coffee farmers face in Central America.

At the forum

Our panel session, Youth and Women in Coffee Growing: The Business Case for an Inclusive Coffee Industry, is scheduled for April 6, the second day of the two-day event, at 10:00 AM CST. Rick Peyser, our senior director for private sector partnerships and in-house expert on smallholder coffee farming, and Roselle Agner, our senior Technical Advisor, will be speaking on the panel along with special guests from our coffee projects, Dilcia Xiomara Vasquez and Ana Ruth Guerra.

We will also be hosting a virtual booth with several "tables" (video conference rooms) where we invite forum participants to join our staff and special guests for deeper discussions on work in Honduras to promote gender and youth inclusivity as well as impact investing in coffee.

Table Schedule

Join a table that interests you and speak directly to our staff and special guests with expertise on the topic.

Table 1: LWR Gender & Coffee Work

April 5: 10:30 – 17:00

April 6: 8:30 – 17:00

Learn more about our projects to improve equality and coffee livelihoods in Latin America.

  • Kenia Contreras, Honduras Program Manager
  • Claudia Pineda Jarquin, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Regional Manager
  • Edgardo Chevez, Director of OCDIH

Table 2: Coffee Impact Investing

April 5 & 6: 8:30 – 17:00

Learn about what impact investing is and how we’re doing it in the Latin American coffee sector.

  • Emilio Huertas, Colombia Country Director

Table 3: Tech 4 Development

April 5: 10:30 – 17:00

April 6: 8:30 – 17:00

Learn about the digital platforms we use to bridge the information gap coffee and cocoa farmers often face.

  • Gabriela Lagos, T4D Technical Advisor

Table 4: Q&A with Panelists 1

April 6: 10:30 – 11:00

Ask your questions of our panelists from our session 'Youth and Women in Coffee Growing: The Business Case for Inclusive Coffee Industry.'

  • Dilcia Xiomara Vasquez, Coffee Certification Technician of the Coffee Producers Association of ASOPROSAN
  • Roselle, Senior Technical Advisor
  • Kenia Contreras, Honduras Program Manager
  • Rick Peyser, Senior Director, Private Sector Partnerships

Table 5: Q&A with Panelists 2

April 6: 10:30 – 11:00

Ask your questions of our panelists from our session 'Youth and Women in Coffee Growing: The Business Case for Inclusive Coffee Industry.'

  • Ana Ruth Guerra, Coffee Producer of the Fraternidad Fraternidad Ecológica Limitada, Cooperative
  • Edgardo Chevez, Director of OCDIH
  • Ralph Merriam, Regional Representative, Northern Triangle

Technical Resources