Q&A: David Hogg
David Hogg, chief agricultural advisor at Naandi Foundation, India
By Sherri Johns
Sustainability is a foundational element of the Naandi Foundation’s Araku Fair Trade Organic Coffee Project in the Vishakapatnam district of India. It is central to the Araku Way and key to emerging quality in a region that has been growing coffee since the 1970s.
Demonstrating how sustainable organic production is intimately connected to prosperity and well-being is the heart of the journey according to David Hogg, chief agriculture advisor at the foundation which is headquartered in Hyderabad, India.
Hogg manages the Livelihoods division at Naandi, a processing and training center and base for the Small & Marginal Tribal Farmers Mutually Aided Co-operative Society (SAMTFMACS). He is a sustainable agriculture expert with 35 years of experience in New Zealand and India, specializing in ecological restoration through responsible agriculture, organic farm management, and animal husbandry, dairy and equine management.
His experience in organic coffee goes back 33 years and includes organic conversion of estates, nursery management, field design/organic fertilization, and coffee processing. Some of the coffees developed through Hogg’s work have gone on to win domestic and international awards and many are exported as premium specialty products. Hogg is an architect of sustainable organic agriculture on a large scale.
STiR: Araku has an interesting model, please explain.
Hogg: We find the term direct trade a bit hackneyed and because the phrase was/is inextricably connected to commodity trading, failed to address the systemic failures of world coffee commodity pricing. It succumbed to the international traders at the expense of farmers. For this reason, we refer to our model as one of “shared value”. Central to that model is that we pay forward. The price has no relation to commodity prices. Farmers get higher prices because they sell coffee not as a raw commodity but as part of a value-added gourmet coffee – as a product.
To ensure quality we have a virtuous cycle – a symbiotic triangular feedback loop between Farmers/MACS, Naandi as facilitator and Araku Originals Ltd. as the marketing “agent”. This symbiotic landscape is now enriched with retail sale and embraces the roastery, website, and eventually cafes. We take the caring and sharing ethos of the Adivasis all the way through the value chain. They inspired us with this Araku Way.
STiR: How do you define transparency and what does it mean to your business?
Hogg: We talk about a process of transparency and traceability. Traceability is fairly straight forward in the context of the coffee and its micro origins: the color coding etc., all the way to storage and curing. Our rigorous organic certification process ensures traceability throughout the production and processing activities. Transparency is all about our entire operations and value chain.
In the context of production, transparency is the values of openness and information sharing between stakeholders: the farmers and Coop (SAMTFMACS), Naandi Foundation, and Araku Originals Ltd. One practical illustrative example: Weighment – till Naandi introduced digital, government approved/verified scales, traders used mechanical scales which were highly inaccurate and manipulatable. Digital scales were a game changer in the Araku Valley. There was objectively verifiable weighment of cherries that was highly appreciated by the community – this transparency was translated through all activities – in transparent, organized cherry collection at the villages, payment into bank accounts and support for democratic elections within the SAMFTMACS coop structure. To reiterate: coffee cherry prices were declared well before the season and were unconnected to commodity price speculation. Bumper crops in Brazil became irrelevant in Araku! Farmers knew what to expect on collection of cherry, weighment and prompt immediate payments through the bank. This transparency was a new world for farmer families.
STiR: The term “sustainability” is used in many contexts. What does sustainability mean to you?
Hogg: Yes, when Shell Oil waxes eloquent about sustainable oil in Nigeria we then know the sustainability animal is a wriggly one. When we are all conscious of the whole world at the same time then real sustainability, planetary sustainability, can be realized. We are on the journey to that within our respective, still unconnected, spheres of existence. In the context of Araku there are two aspects – the village ecosystems and the coffee ecosystems. I will confine myself to the coffee ecosystems we nurture.
For us, we want to support a coffee production system that provides equitable prices for the effort required – it should be economically rewarding and worth that effort. For that reason, we pay forward. The skills development should be such that field quality and quality awareness improves incrementally. The methodology of organic fertilization and production must be affordable and ensure that soil, shade, and bush status gets better year after year. Most critically there should be an absence of drudgery and the next generation should thus show interest. That is, it should be cool. For this reason, we ensure that the CPU does all the otherwise tedious task of processing. If all these interconnected elements are harmonised then we can be confident of sustainable production, of sustainability in Araku coffee.
As a footnote, I should add that because we are organic and thus the soil carbon is ever increasing, the water retention gets better year after year. There is a direct and measurable relationship between percent of soil carbon [SC] and water-holding capacity in the soil. (2% SC = 240,000 liters of water-holding capacity). Since the entire Araku region is rainfall dependent, this aggregating SC becomes a bonus and assures better yields and sustainable production since there is climate change resilience accruing year on year.
STiR: Every coffee producer you work with is certified organic and fair trade certified. Do consumers recognize this in India?
Hogg: Being certified organic has delivered many advantages to the Araku coffee growers. If we wish to craft a long term sustainable system with the Araku communities then organic methods are mandatory. In addition to attracting market premiums, it is also assisting in climate change mitigation through optimum carbon sequestration. And, being a watershed and the single resource for downstream drinking/agri water it ensures that water is safe to drink - chemical free. Environmental responsibility is of prime concern for the Araku brand.
1. Certification ensures we adhere to an implemented, structured organic method of production. Nutrient flow will thus accrue to the coffee micro estate as soil microbiomes evolve & the taste profiles will become more complex and defined. Because of this organized approach, it has allowed us to bring in the terroir layering that provided a quantum leap in quality. And with a symbiotic feedback loop described above, we are able to address lacunae and also identify how best practices are delivering for us. Independent organic audits from IMO also ensure we see micro estates more often and with an independent evaluation. Farmers are more alert as are our layers of field staff. We get to know each farmer family intimately. Organics is our main driver of coffee quality along with terroir classification. Certification ensures the work is done and is not “default organic”.
2. Fair Trade. This delivers a good cash premium to farmers. Other than that it does not have much value as compared to organic certification.
3. Consumers in India are super aware and appreciative of organic. It has been a struggle to ensure the authenticity of the organic label, but, I think the government regulation of the organic landscape has proved beneficial despite the cumbersome process. There is a solid core of Indian consumers who are highly literate about the organic label and the intrinsic value of organic. They appreciate it is not just the health benefit to the consumer, it is also about ecological responsibility.
STiR: What are the biggest challenges you face in export?
1. Cost of production and the importance of scale. The logistics of ensuring cherries reach the coffee processing unit on time.
2. Brushfire skills sharing – how to get momentum and fan the flames.
3. Differentiating the Araku coffee brand from Araku Valley coffee. Copiers abound in India.
4. Ensure our production meets demand in the coming 5 years. Beyond that, I am confident our newly planted coffee over the last few years will bear fruit and ensure a good supply.
5. Labor. Attracting talent to join us throughout the landscape from production to processing to roasting/baristas to cafes and marketing.
STiR: Is growing the local market important and why?
Hogg: We often faced indignant locals who asked “Why only Paris? What about India? We like good coffee too.” There is a literate coffee population in India – they have to be identified and reached. Developing the local market is to my mind crucial both to the brand and to profitability. From my experience, I find the Indian customer for quality coffee is less price sensitive than in the West. With a population of 1.3 billion finding a niche in this local market is a no brainer for us.