Fair trade Lincolnland coffee

For a number of years our teaching greenhouse had a very nice coffee tree that produced several handfulls of coffee beans each year, then some moron decided to break in and steal the plant, in the winter with temperatures well below freezing, in the process killing the poor tree and leaving a trail of leaves and berries even our campus cops could follow. The replacements were really small cuttings and it has taken several years to get coffee production going again, so it was very pleasant to see that this year our coffee trees were bearing a modest crop, and suffice it to say that if you have never seen coffee in fruit, the red berries among the glossy green foliage, it's pretty! The crop will be harvested and processed by my very own non-immigrant labor force, students, because it does them good to know where the stuff you put in your mush comes from, and too few people know and appreciate such things. In a class of 24, even here in Lincolnland, a couple of them would have no idea what kind of plant a tomato grows on never having seen one grown! So the Phactor gets some very exclusive coffee and the students learn something at the same time. That's a fair trade!

Getting Serious - Climate change threatens Coffee!

High end shade-grown coffee production in Columbia is threatened by climate change: higher temperatures and uneven rainfall. Last year's coffee production by growers like Luis Garzon was down by 25% from their high production in 2006, but in fact growers had planned to increase their production by 40%. Coffee is a very finicky crop; it doesn't like the temperature to be hot or cold, and it likes regular rain fall. And this is the exact problem that people have yet to grasp; climate change will affect you! It will change what and where certain crops can be grown. Now you can raise fuel prices to over $5/gallon and it won't matter a bit to the Phactor, and we'll be paying what the rest of the world pays. For many people suddenly your commuting life-style, pitiful as it is, and size of your vehicles will matter. Too bad. It was time for a reality check, and you were living in a dream world. But now we're talking coffee, and that's serious, very serious. Hell, it's bloody addictive! If the elected bozos don't get off their bums and do something meaningful about climate change, a mighty army of very irritable people will be hunting them down. Understand? Coffee! This is serious!