The Coffee Sustainability Foundation course covers the major sustainability issues facing the coffee industry today and offers baseline knowledge of what the term ‘sustainability’ means, how it is connected to power dynamics, current and historical events and practices, as well as a variety of coffee projects. Learners can expect to take away the skills and knowledge they need to begin to make meaningful changes within their own company and lives or prepare to participate in the intermediate or professional courses.
The course is designed to have broad applications and appeal for people new to coffee, and coffee professionals from all backgrounds who are interested in growing their knowledge of sustainability to become better stewards within their current role or company or develop new skills to help support existing initiatives or goals. This course is now a requirement for all SCA Skills Diploma modules.
From coffee drinkers to professionals, anyone interested in coffee would benefit from this course! Concepts from this Foundation course are applicable across many industries.
About this course
The course is 8 hours of instruction spread over 4 weekly 2-hour sessions presented over Zoom. These will not be recorded so learners are expected to be present for each session. Please confirm that the dates and times listed below will work with your schedule before enrolling. Learners are expected to participate during their attendance with a working microphone and camera. Any concerns regarding these requirements or requests for time changes should be brought to Brittany’s attention upon enrolling.
Foundation Sustainability course sessions:
Thursdays, March 14 – April 4, 2024
12pm – 2pm Hawaiʻi Standard Time
(3pm – 5pm Pacific Time; 6pm – 8pm Eastern Time; Friday 7am – 9am Japan Time; 9am – 11am Australian Eastern Time)
Session #1, March 14: Introduction: Terminology, Historical Context, Political Considerations
Session #2, March 21: Environmental Sustainability: Climate change & Agronomy, Social Sustainability: Gender equity, Labor, Intersectionality
Session #3, March 28: Economic Sustainability: Coffee Prices and Fluctuations & Cost of Production, Organizations & Certifications
Session #4, April 4: Opportunities & Limitations, Industry-wide toolkits, Research & Development, Stakeholders
Zoom link and pre-course materials (references and homework) will be sent out 3 days prior to our first session.
Your AST for this course is Brit Horn. Brit is a founder of Pacific Coffee Research in Kalaoa, Kona on Hawai’i Island. PCR is Hawaiʻi’s first SCA Premier Training Campus and CQI Cupping Lab uniquely positioned on a coffee farm where the team hosts certificate and non-certificate courses, post-harvest quality consulting services, and a state of the art space for open collaborating and connecting with all members of the coffee value chain from grower to consumer. In 2017, Brit was invited to join the small inaugural cohort of students to complete the pilot Coffee Sustainability program as a full-license AST for the Coffee Sustainability module. Since then, she has gone on to teach SCA Courses at the Specialty Coffee Expo, Roasters Guild Retreat, and online with fellow ASTs around the globe. It is Brit’s passion to illuminate the interconnectedness of the coffee’s value chain and to enhance equity through education.
An additional course enrollment fee of $50 will be paid by each enrolled student directly to SCA
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