Coffee Farming and Environmental Sustainability

In the previous blog, we discussed the coffee industry - whether it's on track to ending poverty, and what the consumers can do to drive the industry in the right direction. In this blog, we will very briefly look at coffee and its environmental impacts. 

Coffee farms, orchards, vegetable farms all sound very green in a sense that we like to think that they are as good for the planet as they are for us. However, as much as we would like to believe that consuming plants is helping us and the environment, it is important to think about the impacts that can be harmful to first and foremost to the surrounding communities and secondly, the earth. 

Agriculture is the leading cause of deforestation in the tropics, and coffee is part of the mix. In the 1800s, the popularity of coffee skyrocketed, and large companies and farms cleared massive amounts of land to grow coffee. This, however, led to a slew of problems. First, coffee is a shade-loving plant that tastes its best when there is variation in temperature. Growing coffee in full sun leads to the coffee cherries ripening too fast, resulting in lower-density beans and lower quality coffee that is less flavorful and more bitter. While there is no “correct” way for coffee to taste (it’s ok to prefer more bitter coffee!), sun cultivation comes with some serious issues. Clearing land and planting just coffee leads to deforestation, loss of biodiversity, degradation in soil quality, erosion, and increase in pests and disease. To counter this, producers are often forced to use large amounts of fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals to keep the coffee plants healthy. 

While using chemicals allows plants to produce higher yields, which helps the farmers earn a better living, longer-term problems can cause harm to the entire local community. Runoff from fertilizer-treated farms is loaded with excess nutrients, and if this runoff enters local waterways, it will trigger something called an eutrophication cycle. Eutrophication happens when too many nutrients - particularly nitrogen and phosphorus - enter a water way and cause rapid, excessive growth of aquatic algae. This algae can overgrow to the point that they block out the sun, preventing other aquatic plants from being able to photosynthesize and create oxygen that aquatic animals need to breathe. As algae begin to die, it begins to decompose and bacteria begin to break down - a process which further uses up oxygen. With lack of oxygen, all aquatic animals begin to die and decompose, and bacteria start to break them down, too. The result is an oxygen-depleted environment that is full of bacteria which renders this water unusable for farming, watering animals, and dangerous to human health. 

The good news is that farmers are increasingly realizing that these unsustainable practices are circling back to cause more issues, and intercropping and agroforestry is becoming increasingly popular again. The practice of planting coffee alongside shade trees has many benefits, from increasing the quality of the coffee, preventing erosion, decreasing the need for chemical fertilizers, and helping prevent farm runoff from getting into waterways. If these shade trees produce fruit, there are even more benefits: the fruit trees can provide a source of food, or the farmers can trade this produce on local markets for an extra income.

What are some practical ways we, on the consumer end, can help eliminate the environmental impacts? We can help by being informed consumers: do we buy organic coffee? - it uses less chemicals, making it better for the environment and the farming communities; do we buy shade-grown coffee? - it has a slew of benefits for the community, the environment, and generally tastes better! 

So where is Penstock Coffee in all of this? We partner with farmers who use sustainable farming practices, are certified organic, or use none to minimal synthetic chemicals when growing their coffee. Some of our producers go beyond organic in their practices but do not have the means to pay the pricey organic certification. This is why we believe in direct trade: we know our farmers, their practices, and we can pay them what they deserve regardless of whether they were able to get an organic certification.