Coffee Plants... Made in the Shade.

    Up until about 25 years ago most coffee was grown in the shade of forests. Since then there has been a move to more environmentally harmful practices. Coffee farmers, under international economic pressures, started clear cutting the forest to make room for the new sun coffee plantations. They had to culture "sun loving" coffee plants to grow in clear cut fields in the forest, as coffee is a plant that naturally grows in filtered sunlight.  Since these plants did not receive mulch from the trees, they required heavy applications of fertilizer to grow. Without the roots of the natural shade plants the soil washed away, polluting nearby streams.  The fields could now be harvested by machines, removing coffee berries whether ripe or not. As the quantity of low quality coffee increased, the communities and the ecosystem suffered.  Migratory birds lost places to nest while pesticides, fertilizers and sediment polluted the rivers .

     The move to sun plantations was caused partially (mostly) due to coffee prices which were not supporting the communities that grew it. Many farmers went out of business, others relented and grew on the sun plantations... and then.... there were some who resisted. These are the fair trade growers who are still growing today under the natural canopy of the forest.

How is this related to Fair Trade?

    Over 80% of Certified Fair Trade Coffee is also shade grown and certified as organic. Fair Trade not only allows, but encourages environmentally sound coffee growing practices. Certified coffee beans are purchased for a fair trade premium of US $1.26 per pound for conventionally grown coffee; US$1.41 for certified organically grown coffee. This is a full 15 cents per pound more for organic coffee, which is much easier to grow in it's natural environment, the shade. As a result many fair trade growers are making the move to restore the natural environment, actively replanting the forest and changing environmentally unsound practices. When people are not struggling to make ends meet, they choose to preserve their environment and culture. When people are struggling, they make decisions to survive; many of these decisions come at the cost of the environment and the community. Thanks to the fair trade business model, many coffee growers are no longer in a position which would force them to make detrimental decisions.

    Drinking coffee that is certified as organic, shade grown AND fair trade is important. You know that not only is your choice better for the environment but also that your choice is not putting the farmer in the position of needing to move to conventional growing methods to survive.

Coffee growing in rows on a clear cut sun plantation.

Coffee growing within a diverse forest ecosystem under the shade canopy. Photo courtesy of CECOCAFEN (a fair trade coffee co-op)