Labor is a key factor for the success and viability of the coffee industry, yet farms are currently struggling to recruit and retain field hands due in part to urban migration and low incentives for performing rural work.
Aware of this problem, the SCAA Sustainability Council has been developing a strategy in order to gain a greater understanding of the situation and intended to inform the industry in general. One component of this strategy was the commissioning of a study that could answer the following questions:
How is the situation of field hands who work on coffee farms perceived by both producers and workers, taking into account such factors as labor conditions, wages (expectations vs. paid), dangerous work-related activities, housing conditions when they reside on the farm, compliance with labor laws, and understanding their contribution to coffee quality?
How distant is the actual situation of farmworkers from that stipulated by national labor requirements?
What are the main threats and opportunities that workers and producers see for the coffee industry in the current or future situations of farm workers?
What strategies do corporate and family farms employ to recruit and retain their labor? What are the most common mistakes coffee estates make that lead to farmworker attrition?
What can the coffee chain do to support the retention and motivation of the workforce?
From the workers’ viewpoint, what do they most value when deciding to keep working on a farm?