pork under
pressure

Coffee is a fragile crop. It thrives only within a narrow range of environmental and climate conditions. Climate change is already pushing those limits. Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, droughts and extreme weather events are hitting coffee-growing regions hard, with countries like Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Colombia, expected to experience a sharp decline in suitable land for cultivating coffee over the coming decades. Looking ahead, climate projections indicate that global coffee production could decline by almost 45 per cent over the next 50 years. This will inevitably drive up coffee prices.

For the convenience sector, this is not a distant risk. It is a direct business challenge. For Reitan Convenience, coffee is one of our most important offerings.

Therefore, we need to act. As a start, we work to improve traceability in our supply chains and partner with suppliers who share our ambition to explore solutions. Our sourcing is guided by the social and environmental requirements in our Code of Conduct (CoC). That includes both double certification for all coffee by 2027, and an alternative pathway with partners who are genuinely committed to changing the coffee industry from within, not just doing what is expected of them. 

While our sustainability-focused sourcing criteria is not enough on their own to tackle the climate vulnerability the coffee industry is facing, they are essential to help ensure there will be coffee to buy and enjoy in the future. 

Because today, coffee production contributes to deforestation, particularly in the tropical rainforests where much of the world’s coffee is grown. These forests are vital for biodiversity and the global carbon cycle, and their destruction to make way for coffee plantations worsens the climate crisis. So there is an important feedback loop there that we must try to break.

Additionally, coffee is one of the most heavily sprayed crops, with extensive pesticide use contributing to soil degradation, water pollution, and harm to local ecosystems. The health of coffee farmers is also at risk due to exposure to harmful chemicals used in conventional farming practices.

Beyond these challenges, the coffee industry is also deeply connected to social issues. Working conditions on coffee farms are notoriously poor, with low wages, long hours, and a lack of legal protections for workers. Many farms, particularly in developing countries, are small, family-owned and with small, if any, margins.

Coffee farmers face shrinking revenues due to increasing production costs, while their income fails to keep pace. The result is a deepening of poverty among farming communities, even as global demand for coffee continues to rise. Younger generations are often unwilling to remain in the industry due to its low economic prospects, creating even greater stress for the growers.

So, what can be done? Doing nothing is no longer an option, in part because of the growing risk factors, and in part because of new regulatory frameworks, such as the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). 

At Reitan Convenience we are the first to admit we don’t have a single, perfect answer. An ambitious Code of Conduct is necessary, but beyond that we need to do all that we can to support a viable coffee industry in the future. We need to stay curious and keep innovating: exploring ways to diversify, develop new products and blends, and stay open to emerging solutions. Ever heard of mushroom coffee? 

At the same time, we’re seeing new consumption trends, many younger people are choosing drinks other than coffee. How can we meet those shifts thoughtfully, while still supporting coffee to be grown as well as possible in a more volatile world?

Nothing here is black and white. There isn’t one neat solution. This is messy and sometimes unsatisfying. But it’s the reality we’re living in, and the reality we need to navigate.