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and ahead of a roaster. I noticed the roaster leaning intently forward when the producers were talking. She was straining to hear them, as their conversation was almost in whispers, and in Spanish. Finally, she pardoned herself to me and reached a hand out to gently tap one of them on the shoulder. "I saw you in the last seminar," she said. "You asked an excellent question." The gentleman was shy, and ducked his head to her compliment, but nodded in acknowledgement. She spoke again: "I know you don't know me, but may I join you for lunch?" The producers smiled and offered a welcoming gesture. Fast-forward to the final day of LTC: Small groups of attendees were gathering before heading out to visit farms (another very special component of LTC). Among them, I saw the roaster and the two Guatemalan producers together in the lobby. They were smiling and shaking hands; they looked like old friends. After the roaster bid the men a fond farewell, I approached to inquire about what had transgressed, and she was excited to tell me. A farm she works closely with in Honduras had suffered a similar soil deficiency to one that the producers talked about in the seminar back on the first day. She spent a long lunch (more than two hours!) with them that first day discussing farming practices, soil additives, and solutions they had found, as well as some they hadn't considered. Not only did each party bring new ideas to the other during the discussion, but the conversation led to taste profiles and preferences. Long story short: The roaster intends to visit the producers in 2015 and hopefully buy their coffee. LTC begins each day with a welcome from the ultra-organized Olga Cuellar- Gomez, who serves as Sustainable Harvest's strategic relationships director. Olga briefs the entire group on schedule changes and notes about the day to come. This takes place in the grand ballroom, where there is enough seating for every attendee, and thought-provoking lectures and discussions follow, setting the tone for the day. The teams at Sustainable Harvest work many months, and sometimes years in advance to secure speakers who are not only respected in their fields, but who bring a new perspective to issues the coffee industry may be so entrenched in that we're chasing our tails. For example, climate change: The most powerful and insightful speaker of the entire event was Dr. Aaron Davis of the Royal Botanic Gardens of Kew, in the U.K., who discussed his research into determining genetically diverse coffees as a solution to our crisis. He talked about coffees he had found in various climates around the world—some even at sea level—that showed promise. David Griswold himself is a consistently powerful speaker, and his look at the effects of coffee-leaf rust on people in the farming communities suffering from outbreaks of the fungus was heartrending. In a short film, we heard from youngsters wanting to bring money home because their farming parents no longer can, but the options for these kids doesn't get much further than drug trafficking and gang affiliation. David's view on the human side of rust devastation stayed with the audience for a long time. The parade of prolific speakers continued: Leslie Josephs of The Wall Street Journal offered shrewd insights on today's coffee market and where it's headed; Michael Sheridan of Catholic Relief 41 www.baristamagazine.com