Category: Shade Grown

Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffees

7/20/2014

Rainforest Alliance Logos

Certification You Can Trust

The Rainforest Alliance works to conserve biodiversity, and to help farmers have sustainable livelihoods.

The Rainforest Alliance is based on the premise that healthy land makes for health and profitable farming, sustainable practices, and preserve biodiversity. They achieve this not only through certification programs, but also working to educate farmers. You can go to their site, and find more shade grown coffees here. This is one of their videos - its entertaining and inspiring:

RA (Rainforest Alliance) works with farmers, forestry companies, and tourism businesses to keep forests healthy, and conserve resources. To get be RA certified, rigorous standards must be met. Once certified you are part of a global community of people who all believe in protecting forests and those who work in them. This certificate is called, the Green Frog Seal.

The Rainforest Alliance Certified™ seal is an internationally recognized symbol of environmental, social and economic sustainability that helps both businesses and consumers do their part to ensure a brighter future for us all.

Rigorous Standards Based Certification

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Climate Change Affecting Coffee

7/13/2014

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Coffee Industry to be Impacted by Climate Change

Global Warming Hurts Coffee

The coffee industry will be significantly affected by Global Warming.

This includes drought, which affects all kinds of farming; more persistent pests; and changes in land use.

This will result in lower crop yields, higher prices, and more pressure on the small farmers. Prices will rise to compensate, so consumers will pay more for a cup of coffee.

The affects have started already but are expected to become very noticeable by 2020. And there is not a lot that farmers can do about it.

In addition, world-wide demand for coffee is expected to rise, so farmers will be trying to grow even more crops. This puts pressure on the Shade Grown method of farming; because the full-sun, open-field style of farming can produce more beans per acre - but it involves less sustainable practices.

Coffee is one of the leading agricultural products - so the effects of Climate Change on coffee can indicate what is happening in general to agriculture. Some coffee-producing countries are more at risk for Climate Change affects than others; these include Brasil, Vietnam, Honduras, Ethiopia, and Uganda.

These changes to the coffee industry run the risk of raising the poverty level. Almost 3/4 of the worlds coffee is produced by the small, family farms. The coffee farmer will need education and improved agricultural practices to deal with the affects of Climate Change and the greater weather variability.

You can help by buying more Fair Trade coffees, which more directly compensates the small farmer.

Also, you can learn more about Climate Change at ManMadeClimateChange.com

Coal Stacks in China

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Coffee Industry Less Sustainable Than Ever

4/30/2014

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Full-Sun Coffee Farms Hurting the Environment

Full-Sun Coffee Farm

The coffee industry continues to be less and less sustainable, despite the efforts of so many. As consumers drink more coffee, the situation gets worse.

The biggest problem are full-sun farms. These destroy forests, and hurt the environment in several ways. They disturb habitats of animals, they require more chemicals per plant to maintain them, hurt soil health, create erosion problems, and the loss of trees hurts the CO2 cycle even more.

We here at Coffees.com would like to see Starbucks, Kraft, Nestle, and the other large coffee companies take a stand, and do whats right. The simplest thing all of us can do is vote wit your money: buy only shade-grown coffee. We feel strongly about the importance of biodiversity, and about protecting the environment for future generations. We talk about about this at our climate site, ManMadeClimateChange.com.

In a new study published in BioScience, coffee farms are more hurtful than ever. In contrast, a well-run shade grown coffee farm makes a forest even healthier; almost like a rain forest. The worst offenders are Brasil and Vietnam, where 75% of coffee production is not grown under tree cover. These full-sun coffees are often the lower-quality Robusta variety, used in instant coffees and the big can 'store' coffees you see in the supermarket.

Partial Shade Grown Coffee

Shade grown coffee can be done in full-shade or partial shade; the study found that from 1996 to 2010, the percentage of coffee grown in some level of shade fell from 43% to 24%. It is likely to be falling even further. It is one more example of how overpopulation and the need for mass production hurts the environment; which ultimately hurts us.

While the market for Shade Grown coffee has grown, the overall coffee market has grown faster at the low-end of the market.

In full sun farming, you do not have the benefits of insect-eating birds and bats, so you have to apply more insecticides. And you don't have the soil benefits from tree leaves composting so you have to apply more fertilizers. You also lose topsoil, you contaminate waterways with all the additional chemical use, and become more vulnerable to bad weather (which is rather ironic).

Some people believe that full-sun coffee does not taste as good either.

If you buy Organic coffee it can help; and Fair Trade helps the wage of farmers. But to really help protect biodiversity and the environment, you need to get Shade Grown Coffees. Some certifications include the Rainforest Alliance, and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center:

Full Shade Production Farm

By buying Shade Grown coffees, you are telling coffee companies that you care about the environment and about Biodiversity. If you have any questions please Contact Us; or comment below (open this article by clicking on the article main title, then you will see the comment area).

You can find out more about the various Coffee Certifications to choose the best way for you to support the causes that interest you.

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Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffees

Certification You Can Trust

Climate Change Affecting Coffee

Coffee Industry to be Impacted by Climate Change

Coffee Industry Less Sustainable Than Ever

Full-Sun Coffee Farms Hurting the Environment

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