Below is a student response to a research topic related to the chapter titled “Coffee With a Conscience”:
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Is Your Coffee as Eco-Friendly as You Are?
A blog post by New Paltz Ornithology Student Alexandra Powers
Picture, if you will, a beautiful, lush, tropical forest; the morning light filtering in through the leaves of so many trees, peaceful and quiet, yet still teeming with life and the sounds of insects buzzing, birds singing, and the smells of the earth and the rain. Now, picture the similarly inspiring coffee you likely had this morning, with its complex earthy notes, and bold and comforting flavor. Every morning, millions of Americans have a little bit of paradise in their coffee mugs, most of them without ever realizing it. Coffee (Coffea arabica), which is traditionally grown under the shade of natural forest canopies in the tropical regions of the world, is a pleasure and a blessing to biological organisms of all sorts, including, but not limited to our sort – human beings. As a matter of fact, coffee grown under these traditional circumstances is very important for these regions’ forests as a whole, because shade-grown coffee demands that forests remain intact. However, our ravenous lust for coffee can be very demanding, giving coffee farmers incentives to grow more coffee faster and cheaper. The cry for “more!” is very quickly resulting in a wide-range shift from our paradise model of shade-grown Arabica Coffee to a more industrious variety, Coffea canephora, known commonly as Robusta, which grows best in full sun, and spells “bad news” for tropical forests, and the species which call them home.
Figure 1: Image from Silence of the Songbirds by Bridget Stutchbury illustrating the differences in coffee plantation composition. More sun coffee plants can be grown on a plantation than shade coffee, however the cost is the diversity of the natural ecosystem.
The history of our beloved coffee has been long and arduous. Up until the 1880’s, most of the world’s drinking coffee was shade-grown in Southeast Asia, and many of these areas continue to produce coffee today, such as the islands of Sumatra and Sulawesi, which many Americans recognize as the names of particularly dark-roast coffee. Unfortunately, in the late 1800’s the coffee crops in this region of the world were devastated by coffee leaf rust, a fungal disease similar to cedar-apple rust, which is common in the Hudson Valley. The damage to the Southeast Asian coffee industry as a result of coffee leaf rust allowed coffee production in Latin America to take over, and become the new face of coffee for the next hundred years, until the coffee rust finally made its way into Latin America as well.
The second onslaught of coffee leaf rust, beginning in the 1970s, left the coffee industry in dire straits, and made coffee farmers realize they needed to act quickly to solve the problem at hand. Robusta coffee opened the doorway to the resurgence, because not only does Robusta coffee grow more quickly than its cousin Arabica, but Robusta also produces more coffee per year, and is more resistant to coffee leaf rust. One of the reasons that Robusta can resist the rust so well is its requirement to be grown in full sun, whereas Arabica coffee plants and coffee leaf rust share a mutual love of the shade. Figure 1 on the right side of this page illustrates the differences in shade and sun grown plantations. Robusta’s quick growth, high yield, and reduced susceptibility to disease allows this newer sun-coffee to be offered to consumers at a slightly lower price than traditional shade-grown coffee, however, saving a few bucks on some beans is surely not worth the wide-spread devastation caused by this consumer-driven industry.
As you might imagine, the switch from shade to sun coffee means major deforestation of the regions in which coffee is grown. What you may not have guessed, however, is that this also means the endangerment of many migratory bird species who make their homes in shade-grown coffee plantations. You might even think that birds themselves pose a threat to the coffee, which grow as the seeds of a bright red berry, but this is surprisingly not the case. Birds avoid the fruit of the coffee plants due to a high concentration of an unwanted poison – the very same poison we’re after – caffeine. Concerned Ornithologist, Bridget Stutchbury, in her book Silence of the Songbirds, illustrates how birds’ relationship with coffee plants is much more complicated and mutually beneficial than you may have guessed. Many of the trees used to shade coffee plantations offer good opportunities for birds to forage for fruits, nuts, seeds, and insects, which also helps to protect the coffee plants from pests, and allows the coffee to reap the benefits of some natural fertilizer. The removal of shade-providing tree species to make room for Robusta is significantly reducing this habitat, which may one day result in the extinction of hundreds of bird species, including many common migratory species which we are accustomed to hearing in springtime in neighborhoods throughout the entire country.
The good news is that you can help! You, the consumer, with your beautiful buying power, and well-informed decisions, yes, you can help move the market back to shade dominated! In their article, Coffee and Conservation, authors John H. Rappole, David I. King, and Jorge H. Vega Rivera drive home the point that if consumers demand shade-grown coffee, and pay the extra few bucks, the demand will drive more coffee to be shade-grown in the industry. The authors go on to stress the importance of buying a product that genuinely helps the cause, since not even all shade-coffee is created equal. Look for certification logos on your coffee (Figure 2) from accredited campaigns such as the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and the Rainforest Alliance, to make sure that the coffee you are buying protects these habitats, species, the environment as a whole, and the farmers (and their families) who’s livelihood is founded on fueling the rest of the world.
Figure 3: Certifications and Logos to look for. The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center certifies coffee as “Bird Friendly” if it is grown with a diverse shade canopy which creates habitats for migratory bird species. The USDA certfies coffee as “organic” if it is grown in the absence of pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides which pollute soils and the quality of the air for all of us. The Rainforest Alliance certifies coffee if standards are met to protect wildlife, the ecosystem, and the workers of coffee farms. Fairtrade International certifies coffee which offers fair prices and decent working conditions to growers.
Referenced Literature:
Bridget Stutchbury, 2007, Silence of the Songbirds, Coffee with a Conscience, ISBN-10: 0-8027-1691-1