Sustainably Grown Coffee

An Old Idea with a New Buzzword

On April 14, 2000, the Specialty Coffee Association of America hosted the Third Sustainable Coffee Congress. The event was attended by hundreds of concerned industry representatives, from producers and brokers to roasters like Frontier and coffee retailers. The purpose of the Congress was to raise awareness of coffee's role in the ecology and economy of the tropics, and to define the criteria and marketing framework for socially conscious, environmentally friendly coffee.

What is "Sustainable" Coffee?

The word sustainable is a popular way to describe an inherent and timeless component of the 30-year-old organic movement. While many people define "organic" as a stand against the use of chemicals for growing food, in truth organic farming and organic certification are more holistic in nature. Organic and sustainable encompass the belief that food (or any other organic product) should be grown, processed, marketed and sold in ways that minimize and eventually eliminate any adverse impact on the environment. While these beliefs have been supported by individuals and a few companies in the past, they are now gaining wider support in the specialty coffee industry.

While a firm definition of "Sustainability" has yet to be reached, a firm definition for "Certified Organic" has been in place for many years. Organic certifying agencies in the United States, like QAI and OCIA, require a review of a coffee farmer's plan for long-term improvement of the land, a review of production methods and a review of the long-term viability (sustainability) of the operation as part of the certification audit. The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) as an agency recommending and reviewing the Federal standards for the National Organic Program, use "overall compatibility with a system of sustainable agriculture" as one criterion for acceptability. A great way to support sustainable coffee is to support certified organic coffee.

Coffee's Role in Tropic Ecology

Coffee trees make a significant contribution to a healthy tropic ecology in organically grown environments. Besides producing a higher-quality, milder coffee, traditional organic coffee farms virtually always grow coffee in the shade, along with other forestry species. These farms have been identified as being "almost as good" as a natural forest for bio-diversity and environmental quality. Unfortunately, modern commercial coffee farming methods revert to large fields of sun grown coffee that are, in effect, chemically-dependent, monoculture deserts.

In recent history, coffee production has been initiated by deforestation, or stripping vast areas of natural forest from mountainsides. Once the land has been cleared and trees planted, high yields rely on agro-chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. This agricultural technique has created huge fortunes for a select few while keeping the majority of plantation workers and small coffee farmers in extreme poverty. More coffee beans may have been picked from coffee trees using these methods, but only at the expense of the environment, wildlife and human health for years to come.

Coffee's Role in Socio-Economic Development

Coffee production has a significant impact on the socio-economic condition of third-world coffee producing countries. Many times, coffee is the only cash crop available to small growers, who live in mountainous regions far from the markets where their product trades. Because of the difficulty of getting to market and the role of coffee as one of the top three export commodities in these countries, the potential for exploitation is staggering.

Some growers are banding together to form cooperatives and grower organizations. The farmers work together to improve quality by changing farming methods and sharing resources. Often, they sell their coffee direct to U.S. and European companies in the organic and specialty coffee markets. The roasters and brokers are willing to invest time and money, and manage the risks related to direct buying, in exchange for a higher quality product. While the number of cooperative groups is growing, they are still very small and localized.

How Can You Support Sustainable Coffee?

Whether you call it sustainable, organic, shade grown or "green," everyone should support the movement toward coffee produced in an environmentally friendly, socially responsible manner. After all, organic certification doesn't prohibit access to a good cup o' joe. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the coffee trade, and coffee packages featuring words like certified organic, shade grown, fair trade, and sustainable are a step in the right direction, but it is still difficult for consumers to know which coffee is, or isn't, truly sustainably produced.

Today, an easy way to ascertain sustainability is to look for organic on the label. Or better yet, certified organic, which guarantees that the coffee has undergone an audit to verify adherence to defined standards. Organic coffee is rarely grown on large estates using sun-intense monoculture. More often, organic coffee is grown by small family farmers who have organized themselves into cooperatives. Organic coffee grown by these small producers is generally biodiverse. Food plants, native trees and other native plants grow alongside of the coffee, thus providing a habitat for many different insects, animals and birds.

Getting people who buy specialty coffee to buy certified organic, sustainable coffee is a good first step. Getting the millions of people who buy commercial ground coffee to buy sustainable coffee is the goal. Then we will be able to make a serious improvement to millions of lives while improving millions of acres of fragile, and environmentally critical, tropical forest ecology. Remember, even though you drink coffee, you still want to be able to sleep at night.

Read More About It

• The Organic Foods Sourcebook by Elaine Marie Lipson.

• The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Resource for Healthy Eating by Rebecca Wood, Rebecca Wood (Illustrator), Paul Pitchford.

• Good News for a Change: How Everyday People are Helping the Planet by David T. Suzuki, Holly Dressel, Gary L. Saunders.