BUY SHADE-GROWN OR SUSTAINABLY HARVESTED COFFEE

step #18

“If we are going to carry on growing, and we will, because no country is going to forfeit its right to economic growth, we have to find a way of doing it sustainably.”

TONY BLAIR FORTMERT BRITISH PRIME MINISTER

Start your day with a delicious rainforest-saving experience. Enjoy a simple cup of shade-grown, fair-trade coffee. It’s all about supporting sustainable agriculture. So now your favorite vice can be guilt free knowing you are helping the rainforests of the world with every cup.

THE SCOOP

The world does love its coffee! In the United States alone, we drink approximately 400 million cups of coffee per day, or the equivalent of 146 billion cups of coffee per year, making us the leading consumer of coffee in the world, followed by Germany and Japan. Yet with the exception of Hawaii and Puerto Rico, no coffee is grown in the United States or its territories. Not unlike our oil addiction, the United States looks to other countries to supply us abundantly with coffee—as do many other nontropical coffee-loving countries.

Drinking roughly 400 billion cups per year, the world has a need for vast quantities of coffee that is at the heart of the coffee-cultivation/rainforest-destruction problem. Prior to 1972, coffee had been cultivated for hundreds of years in a sustainable manner in the shade of the rainforest. When coffee is shade-grown, there is no need to clear forest, as it provides the ideal habitat for coffee to grow. Coffee plants naturally thrive in the understory of the tropical forest, providing habitat for hundreds of species of birds, a myriad of insects, orchids, reptiles, amphibians and other animals. Protected by the tree canopy, this type of coffee cultivation results in far less soil erosion, weeds and need for pesticides. Thus the farmers’ costs and their families’ exposure to toxic chemicals are both lowered. Farmers also harvest an assortment of fruits, firewood, lumber and medicines from the shade trees. These products make families less vulnerable to coffee price fluctuations on the world market.

However, starting in the early 1970s, the U.S. Agency for International Development and other groups gave $80 million to coffee plantations in Central America for advancements to go along with the general shift to technologized agriculture. These plantations replaced their shade-grown techniques with sun-cultivation techniques to increase yields, which in turn destroyed vast forests and biodiversity. More than 2.5 million acres of forests in Central America were destroyed to make way for monocultures of sun-grown coffee. In this region, less than 20 percent of the country’s forests still remain.

Sun-grown coffee’s higher yield comes at a hefty price to the environment. Massive removal of tropical hardwoods with the accompanying loss of rainforest canopy is a result of sun-grown coffee plantations. In addition, massive chemical inputs of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are required for farmers to produce coffee under the technologized high-yield, full-sun growing conditions. The increased production of coffee puts a greater nutrient demand on the plant and the soil, which is often answered by the farmer with a corresponding increase in agrochemical applications. This in turn leads to water pollution, soil degradation, worker health risks and a dependence of the farmer on chemical supplies with associated costs.

The other aspect of this technologized “sun coffee” is the loss of biodiversity. The traditional shade plantations not only grew great coffee but were ideal habitat for birds and other critters. The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center’s research has determined that shade coffee plantations can harbor up to 150 different species of birds, whereas a typical sun plantation may support around five species.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

You can make a difference by purchasing shade-grown or sustainably harvested coffee at home and at your favorite coffeehouse. That’s it.

There are different types of certifications that will immediately tell you whether or not a particular coffee comes from a shade-grown sustainable resource. You just need to look for the certification seal on the package.

The Rainforest Alliance works with coffee farming communities, helping them adopt sustainable practices that conserve the environment and improve livelihoods. The Rainforest Alliance Certified seal is your assurance that the coffee was grown on farms where forests are protected, the environment is conserved—waterways, soil and wildlife—and workers are paid fair wages and given access to medical care and education. Certified farms serve as a migratory stopover for birds, especially in areas of heavy deforestation. Rainforest Alliance Certified coffees are widely available now throughout the world, including Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Japan and here in the United States. Look for Procter & Gamble’s Millstone Rainforest Reserve coffee in U.S. grocery stores or Kraft’s Kenco Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee in the United Kingdom. You can find it at Costco under the brand name Mayorga Coffee Roasters, on airlines and in hotels. And you can sometimes find it at your local coffeehouse.

Look for the birds! The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center certifies coffee as shade-grown and bird-friendly. Manufacturers will display the “Bird-Friendly” certification on the package. Also, look for coffees that state on their packaging or on their website that they produce shade-grown coffee and don’t use pesticides or herbicides. Many smaller, independent, shade-grown coffee farmers are not able to afford certification. The country of origin can be taken into consideration too. As a general rule, coffee produced from southern Mexico, El Salvador, Peru, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala are primarily shade-grown. African coffees from Sumatra, Timor, New Guinea and Ethiopia are mostly shade-grown. Use caution when choosing coffees from Colombia, Brazil and Costa Rica, as they are more likely to be sun-grown. However, there are some quality shade-grown coffees from these regions too.

We also suggest looking for triple certification—that is, certified as organic, shade-grown and fair trade. Triple-certified coffee is grown without chemicals under a diverse canopy and garners the farmer a fair price. Good for the planet, great for the consumer! Look for these seals:

We highly recommend triple-certified Caffe Ibis (www.caffeibis.com), which offers excellent choices of coffee that are organic, shade-grown and fair trade. Caffe Ibis has been around for 30 years and was committed to sourcing coffee from sustainable farms long before it became fashionable. Caffe Ibis is available at Whole Foods and New Frontiers markets.

Now that you know what to look for, you will find many more brands, especially online. Be sure to ask your local coffeehouse about shade-grown, organic, fair-trade coffee. If it doesn’t offer one, ask if it can begin carrying one and express your concern about rainforests.

You will find that shade-grown coffee is more expensive than regular coffee—but the quality speaks for itself. And it’s important to look at the environmental price tag that comes with sun-grown coffee. By paying a little more and committing to purchasing only shade-grown, fairly traded coffee, you are supporting new markets, the future of our planet and a viable alternative to destructive ways of exploiting tropical rainforests.

With every cup you drink, you will, in short, be helping to save the world’s remaining rainforests.

Now that’s the way to start your morning!

RESOURCES

Rainforest Alliance
www.rainforest-alliance.org

Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center

nationalzoo.si.edu/scbi/ migratorybirds/

Caffe Ibis
www.caffeibis.com