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Coffee

Tour a coffee farm with Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest Alliance.

More than 25 million people in the tropics depend on coffee, a crop that is the economic backbone of many countries and the world's second most traded commodity after oil. Coffee is farmed on about 12 million hectares (30 million acres) worldwide, an area larger than Portugal and nearly the size of England. Most of the farms are in areas regarded as high priorities for conservation. In 1993, the Rainforest Alliance and its partner groups in the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) demonstrated that traditional, forested coffee farms are havens for wildlife. Now, coffee lovers everywhere can support farmers who maintain these rainforest refuges simply by buying beans stamped with the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal of approval.

Supporting Farmers and Farmworkers

Coffee farming is a grand and noble tradition that is deeply ingrained into the cultures, economies and politics of most producing countries. Millions of families have depended on coffee for generations. Like any farming, growing coffee is risky business. Coffee farmers face difficult challenges: over-supply and low prices, inclement weather, pests and diseases, rising costs and sometimes unhelpful government policies.

The trend toward "modernized" coffee farming, which began in the 1970s, increased supply and also marked a departure from the historic traditions of farming in harmony with nature. The new methodologies put more beans into an already overstocked market and converted coffee farms from self-sustaining sanctuaries into stark and lifeless monocultures. Wildlife disappeared, soils washed downhill and streams choked on silt and agrochemicals.

Many farmers sought a balance between the traditions they learned from their grandfathers and the new, high-production, high-cost and high-impact techniques coming out of the agronomy schools. The Rainforest Alliance and its allies worked for years with these forward-thinking farmers, scientists, agronomists, environmentalists and others to develop farm-management guidelines that maintain the eco-friendly traditions, add a growing awareness of social responsibility, and ensure economic sustainability.

Rainforest Alliance certification helps farmers bear the erratic swings in the global market by giving them the keys to improved farm management, negotiating leverage and access to premium markets. By implementing the SAN sustainable farm-management system, farmers can control costs, gain efficiencies and improve crop quality.

The Birds and the Beans

For more than 150 years, coffee was widely grown under the leafy canopy of native rainforest trees. When agronomists in the 1970s began promoting a new farm system where the sheltering forest is cleared, and coffee bushes are packed in dense hedgerows and doused with agrochemicals. These monoculture farms produce more beans, but at a tremendous environmental cost. The traditional, agroforestry system is good wildlife habitat. The new monocultures have little habitat, accelerate soil erosion and pollute streams.

Biologists in the SAN have shown that certified, forested coffee farms can be bio-rich buffer zones for parks, protect watersheds and serve as wildlife corridors. These "coffee forests" are also important sources of firewood, construction materials, medicinal plants, fruits, flowers, honey and other goods. Many farms in the certification program protect native forest reserves and community water supplies. Certified farmers in ecosystems that are not naturally forested, such as the "cerrado" in Brazil, are required to conserve the native habitat.

The biodiversity on coffee farms can be awesome. One certified cooperative in El Salvador holds more than 100 tree species. SAN biologists have spotted members of dozens of species of rare birds, wild cats such as ocelots, postcard-size butterflies, Technicolor frogs, seldom-seen orchids, monkeys and (once) a giant anteater. Certification is one way to guarantee that coffee farms maintain wildlife habitat and other environmental benefits.

Rainforest Alliance Certified seal is a guarantee that coffee is grown on farms where forests are protected, rivers, soils and wildlife conserved; workers are treated with respect, paid decent wages, properly equipped and given access to education and medical care. These farms are on a path toward true sustainability. Forested coffee farms are critically important to serve as migration stopovers for birds traveling from as far away as Canada and Alaska. In areas where deforestation is rampant, these coffee farms may be the only habitat available to provide shelter and food for wary birds.