Monika Firl

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT MONIKA FIRL

During 25+ years in the industry, I’ve seen incredible and exciting changes in the world of Specialty Coffees. I’ve been all hands on deck at the birth of Fairtrade coffee, and have watched the market sector for \"responsible and sustainable trade\" grow and diversify. I’ve nurtured organic coffee, learning side-by-side with small-scale farmers, have seen expectations around specific varietals, traceability and farmer livelihoods grow and evolve. I\'ve also been swept up in the tourbillon of quality coffee, as the concept and realities have expanded beyond our wildest imagination! But I’ve also seen countless challenges “from seed to cup” - ranging from extreme market fluctuation, to crop failure linked to climate chaos and \"market signals\" pushing farmers towards dead-end production systems, and to the financial risk for all of the above too frequently and disproportionately placed on the farmers\' shoulders. It was a peculiar path led that me to coffee. Having written my Journalism Master\'s Thesis on the Impact of Politics on the US Press, with Guatemala as my case study - I got a crash course on Central American history, based on colonial resource grabs and political takeovers wrapped in endless power struggles right up to the current context. With my growing understanding about of how the \"rules of the game get set\"- it was only natural that I would jump at the opportunity to work with Central American communities determined to define their own path forward towards sustainable development. One innocent phone call offering me the job to set-up a technical-volunteer project in \"post-civil-war\" El Salvador, led to a 10-year stint living and working with small-scale farmers in Central America and Southern Mexico, with the last 6 of those years focused on organic and small-holder coffee producers and their cooperative organizations. Since moving to Montreal in I’ve worked as Green Buyer cum Producer Relations Manager, External Communications Director, and Director of Sustainability with CoopCoffees. I\'ve continued my relationship with the cooperative as part of the project team to trial the Cool Farm Tool in agroforestry and regenerative coffee plots, and linked to the Carbon, Climate and Coffee Initiative. The ultimate goals of the project are to: identify and support best organic practices, measure the net carbon sequestration, and financially reward farmers for the environmental services rendered. And now, since March 2022, I\'m serving as Senior Coffee Manager at Fairtrade International. Let\'s build a brighter future for coffee!