Organic Coffee to the Rescue

Sustainablly Grown Coffee Helps the Farmers Stay in Business

Aug 14, 2009

You may be hearing more and more about Organic, Fair-Trade and Shade Grown Coffee. You're wondering what all the fuss is about? You just want your morning Cup-o-Joe!

However, the origin of coffee has surprising significance on the future of our planet. Coffee is a tropical export that is almost exclusively grown in the developing world but consumed by wealthier countries. Most of the world’s coffee beans are grown in a thin band of rainforests near the Equator. A few decades ago, the coffee plant was grown “traditionally” in the magical under-story of the rainforest amongst fruit trees and banana plants. This natural ecosystem provided protection from soil erosion, favored local temperature and humidity, replenished organic soil matter through leaf litter production and supported an array of beneficial insects that help control economic pests without the use of toxic chemicals. The forest canopy offered a home to the beneficial insects and birds that feast on pests that attack coffee plantations.

Environmental Destruction

Over the past 40 years, Central America and Mexico have lost approximately two thirds of their rainforest. Today, most coffee beans come from what was once a biologically rich rainforest to what is now clear-cut tracts of land, without shade, with the distinctive burning scent of ammonia fertilizer. This has affected the diversity of insects, plants and other wild creatures. Scientists are now finding that the number of birds in a full-sun coffee plantation is half the amount found in shade grown coffee farming areas.

Traditional 'shade-grown' coffee farms use natural gardening methods that have been passed down for generations. Long before synthetic pesticides and fertilizers became widely used in agriculture. Coffee beans grown in the newer “industrial” full–sun plantations require the use of more pesticides and fertilizers than shade grown coffee. Many pesticides, such as DDT used in Latin American countries that export coffee, are banned in the US because of their possible carcinogenicity or long-term persistence in the environment. (According to the Washington Toxics Coalition, DDT remains in the soil for nearly 50 years.)

The Coffee Farmers

On top of the environmental destruction, there is an International crisis destroying the livelihoods of 25 million coffee farmers. According to OXFAM, (the international relief organization that works to overcome poverty and suffering), the price of coffee has fallen by almost 50 percent in the last few years alone and long-term prospects are dismal. By the time the coffee farmers get paid for their coffee beans, the money has passed through so many local and foreign middlemen, on the way to your supermarket, that the farmer barely earns pennies for his homegrown crops. Coffee growers are pulling their children out of school, especially girls, because they can no longer afford basic medicines, and are cutting back on food and some are simply going out of business.

How to Help 'The Coffee Crisis'

Coffee drinkers can help by educating themselves and others about the struggle of what Oxfam calls “The Coffee Crisis” and their heroic “Coffee Rescue Plan.” Buying Fair-Trade coffee is just one part, however a more systemic solution is needed. Corporations and governments internationally must make broad changes in their sourcing policy and purchasing practices to ensure reasonable prices to coffee farmers and their families, who are now facing destitution worldwide.

Request that your local coffee retailer or supermarket supply coffee choices that are:

The good news is that many of the largest US and European coffee retailers, including Starbucks, are selling coffee with all three above mentioned components. Dunkin' Donuts is also now supplying some Fair-Trade, organic coffees.

Now, go drink that sustainably-grown cup of coffee and get back to work, feeling good about yourself!

The copyright of the article Organic Coffee to the Rescue in Food Trends is owned by Annie Spiegelman. Permission to republish Organic Coffee to the Rescue in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.