Coffee Numbers Game October 8
Welcome to October,
The town is buzzing with activity with the Ironman Triathlon World Championships this coming Saturday. There are lots of numbers: up to 1800 competitors doing a 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike race and 26.2-mile run. Months of preparation leading up the big day. Needless to say, it’s an incredible numbers game for each of the participants.
Coffee farm ownership is likewise a numbers game. I often get questions on the numbers. I’ve heard some outrageous claims of production numbers, growing costs, and net profits. As with anything, it pays to do your homework. Often, if it sounds too good to be true, it’s too good to be true. There are also many good “rules of thumb” to go by. I’ll try to cover some of these later in later individual segments.
One of the best sources of coffee numbers is through the University of Hawaii, College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR). Anything related to agricultural production can be found under their roof. Be careful, it’s a little like drinking from a fire hose.
http://www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/AB-11.pdf links to numerous publications, both free and for sale. Search for coffee from here.
More specifically, this link will take you to a 1998 fact sheet with spreadsheet covering coffee economics: http://www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/AB-11.pdf
Dive in, enjoy the numbers. It may prompt more questions than answers, but be reassured that answers are available from reliable sources if one knows where to look. I’ll be happy to be of any assistance in pointing you to the sources or pointing out good coffee properties. Drop me a line anytime.
Until next time,
Ann Oct 10
Hi Fred,
Can you imbed those links so we can just click on them and go to the numbers? Ask Ryan!
Thanks,
Ann
You might want to add your signature on each post too, so people can actually just email you from it…
I love reading your blog!