A hush has fallen over the room, as the first round of immensely learned SCAA speakers tackle the podium, one after the other, while our bellies struggle to digest the complimentary sausage buffet at this morning’s breakfast. Here’s some highlights from the first morning at the SCAA Symposium.
Keynote Speaker Hal Hamilton:
Hal kicked things off a speech about assumptions in the industry, challenging the room and making a bold statement a la Will Rogers: “We’ve assumed some things about solutions that may not be adequate anymore”. Hal’s speech went on to drop knowledge on long term supply challenges, the challenge of our current moment in specialty coffee, and the concept of coffee as a challenging canary in a challenging coal mine in the global sustainability challenge. All in all, it was a challenging speech, to be sure, coming across like the most fascinating, edifying “Dilbert” cartoon strip you’ve ever read. It wasn’t all negative, however; Hal closed things out by shouting out a variety of current projects that he feels are inspirational to the sustainability of sustainability.
