Registration opens for Let’s Talk Roya

Registration for Sustainable Harvest’s global event, Let’s Talk Roya, is now open. The three-day conference will be held from 3 – 6 November at the Royal Decameron hotel in El Salvador. The event  will bring together representatives from across the global coffee supply chain in response to this year’s Latin American Coffee Leaf Rust crisis. The program is relevant to farmers, co-op leaders, financiers, NGOs, roasters, government and coffee association representatives and others. Let’s Talk Roya is a part of Sustainable Harvest’s Roya Recovery Project, a disaster-relief effort to help farmers, particularly those committed to organic farming, mitigate the long-term effects of Roya. The project has received widespread support from organisations such as Cafe Moto, Cafe Mystique, Dillanos, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Oiko Credit and Progreso. “This year’s crisis-level Roya outbreak has implications for all of us in the specialty coffee supply chain,” said President and founder of Sustainable Harvest, David Griswold, in a statement. “Let’s Talk Roya presents a unique setting to talk about ways to identify practical solutions to Roya and other issues resulting from climate change.” The open event will leverage the Let’s Talk Coffee model of bringing coffee supply chain stakeholders together for direct conversations and collaborative problem-solving. The conference will offer a forum to learn more about the disease from industry experts, discuss recovery strategies and walk away with practical and actionable recommendations. Attendees will have the unique opportunity to cup Roya-affected coffees in an effort to establish a new common language of taste between roasters, suppliers, certifiers and others relative to the upcoming Central American and Peruvian harvests. This expectation-setting will be critical in maximising supplier market opportunity in light of Coffee Rust’s impact on cup quality. The event will also feature farm trips where participants can witness the impacts of climate change on coffee farms firsthand.