Trade & Field
A place for everything we've come to learn… both in the soil and at the desk. It's where we share what we're seeing, what we're thinking, and what we're working through, as commodities move from origin to market. Nothing overdone, just an honest look at our craft from our point of view.
88 Points to Poverty. Who Actually Pays for Specialty Coffee? Specialty coffee economics don’t have to work this way. Here’s the quality trap,…
What Is Liberica Coffee? (And Why Almost Nobody Sells It)The rarest commercially grown coffee species in the world is named after Liberia. Most…
Behind the Brew: What is the Coffee “C” Market?Behind the Brew: What is the Coffee “C” Market? Every time you buy your…
What a Winetasting in Portugal Taught Me about Raising Another Generation of FarmingThe Vineyard Sunday evening my wife and I were deciding things to do while we…
The Honey Trade Opportunity Hiding in West AfricaWhat began as a conversation about beekeeping revealed a much larger shift in global…
Regenerative Coffee Farming: Old Wisdom RepackagedSomewhere along the way, the agricultural industrial complex forgot that the land is not…
Why Smuggling Persists in West Africa: Pricing, Borders, and Market FailureInside West Africa’s informal cocoa and coffee routes, where markets, borders, and survival economics…
What if Origin Set the Price of Coffee?Rethinking who defines value in a market built far from where coffee begins. …
Shipping Disruptions, War, and Commodities: Why Your Cup Is More Political Than EverIt starts far from your cup. Before the roast, before the shipment, before the…
“Trade and Field is WAFI's dispatch from the intersection of agriculture and trade. Part field report, part market briefing, the newsletter delivers firsthand updates on growing conditions, agronomy, and production alongside sharp perspectives on the economic forces moving global commodities. Written from both origin in Africa and our outpost in New York, Trade and Field Notes offers a clear, practical look at how real-world conditions shape supply, pricing, and opportunity across the markets we operate in.”