By way of contrast, Rogers Family Coffee Company, based in California, was also exploring a different
integrated business model. With an annual coffee roasting capacity of approximately 20,000 tons, the firm
sourced roughly 10 per cent of its green coffee requirements from its own farms in Mexico and Panama.30
The company owned roughly 365 hectares spread over three farms in each country.31 Similarly,
Starbucks, a coffee retailer, had a 250-hectare farm in Costa Rica. Of late, it also was exploring the option
to lease farms in the Yunnan province in China
Land acquisition was a capital-intensive activity, in which the scale of operations was crucial to the return
on investment. Thus, Nestlé, as a large global enterprise with scale, could have an edge over its
competitors. Because farmland in China was state-owned, Nestlé could secure long-term leases of 90
years or more, and modest annual lease payments would secure its control