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plants available for the bees, is also the environment desirable for the shade-growing coffee plantation." & offee growing and beekeeping also share common ground at the palate level. Like seemingly every other food prod- uct, honey is entering an era in which terroir is gaining appreciation. One example: Dick Turanski, owner of Oregon- based honey distributor GloryBee, says honey from his state's Willamette Valley is marked by a distinct blackberry flavor—not because it's added, but because that fruit is prolific in the region and its characteristics transfer from flower to pollinating bee to final honey product. It's not surprising then that Turanski and other honey pros are intrigued by the pos- sibility of honey from coffee plantations. Turanski has sampled some already and has begun looking into buying a regular supply from a co-op called Maya Vinic in Chiapas. "It may be that at some point, you could go ahead and advertise the fact that a particu- lar honey is from a coffee-growing region," he says. "There's a growing demand for honey and a growing demand for fair trade and organic. It will take these co-ops some time to get everyone trained, but the ones that are managed well are having a good success rate." await—finding ways to up the honey quality, for example, and giving producers better access to markets. But one huge plus that honey hopefuls have going for them is the sense of camaraderie that exists between beekeepers and other players across the world. This is yet another area where the product crosses paths with coffee: Both industries seem fueled by passions for technique, taste and talk. "At the SCAA show [in Portland in April], I met a beekeeper I worked with 25 years ago in Panama," Caron says. "Without any hesitation, we could pick up our conversation and talk about what happened in the interven- ing time—we had this huge history. If we can tap into people like that, we can really move forward." That type of training and management, of course, is exactly what's at the heart of Food4Farmers. For those optimistic about the beekeeping and coffee-farming con- nection, it's easy to dream of a production paradigm where quality beans and quality honey are developed side by side, with each helping to put farmers on secure financial footing. Experts know plenty of challenges Fresh Cup Magazine 41