EP 1536 – Part 1 of 5: Smallholder Coffee Farmers and Volatility - What “High Prices” Really Mean | Ana Donneys

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Episode Description

This is Part 1 of a five-part series, The Reality of Being a Smallholder Coffee Farmer in Volatility, with Ana Donneys from Cafe Primitivo.

In this opening conversation, we unpack what volatility truly means for smallholder producers.

Volatility is often discussed in relation to the C market, futures prices, or export trends. For smallholder farmers, however, volatility is lived through yield loss caused by climate shifts, rising fertiliser and labour costs, unpredictable exchange rate movements, and limited access to financial risk management tools.

Ana shares a real example of signing a direct trade contract at what appeared to be a strong exchange rate, only to experience a significant drop in yield and a peso devaluation that altered her cost structure dramatically.

When production volume drops, cost per pound increases immediately. When currency shifts, the value of revenue changes in local terms. When labour and inputs rise, margins tighten further. In this context, high global coffee prices do not automatically translate into stability or profitability.

The conversation also addresses the structural gap between corporate farms, which may have access to hedging instruments or financial advisors, and smallholder producers who cannot afford the capital required to participate in those tools.

This episode reframes “high prices” by grounding them in the layered financial realities of farm-level economics.

Guest links

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cafeprimitivo/

Website: https://www.cafeprimitivocolombia.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anadonneys/