"Sustainable coffee is produced on a farm with high biological diversity and low chemical inputs. It conserves resources, protects the environment, produces efficiently, competes commercially and enhances the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole."
-- Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, First Sustainable Coffee Congress overview paper
Categories
Sustainable coffee: Coffee growing: Retail coffee: All the rest:
Related links
Birds, Biodiversity, & Shade Coffee- Birds that use coffee plantations
- The Grind over Sun Coffee
- The Case of the Disappearing Warbler
- Bird-Friendly coffee slide show
- WWF: Coffee and habitat conversion
- Shade certification issues
- Why Birds Are Crazy for Shade Coffee
- Audubon Magazine shade coffee article
- "Bird-Friendly" certification standards
- "Bird-Friendly" farms
- Rainforest Alliance certification standards
- Rainforest Alliance certified farms
Trade and consumer
Deeper into side issues
C&C Clipmarks home
Background information category archives
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May 16, 2009: When birders drink Folgers, part 2
Multiple studies have shown that birders can well afford to drink sustainably-grown coffee that supports the birds they enjoy so much.
April 12, 2009: Shade coffee flyer
I put together a two-page PDF fact sheet on shade coffee and migratory birds for a couple of local events and to have on hand on our literature table at the Rouge River Bird Observatory. Feel free to download it...
February 8, 2009: Fair Trade environmental standards
In spite of what many people believe, Fair Trade certification alone does not automatically mean or guarantee that rigorous environmental standards were followed, or that the coffee was grown under shade. Here's a summary of the Fair Trade environmental standards.
February 2, 2009: When birders* drink Folger's
An editorial recently appeared in the scientific journal Conservation Biology. It was titled "When swordfish conservation biologists eat swordfish." As the title implies, it's a riff on the hypocrisy of avowed conservationists when their own lifestyles are inconsistent with the...
October 15, 2008: Fight poverty: Quit drinking corporate coffee
If you are one of the 160 million coffee drinkers in the U.S., you can make a decisive, positive impact on poverty by refusing to buy coffee from Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, and Sara Lee. They purchase over 40%...
August 23, 2007: More on botanical varieties
I have updated my post covering botanical varieties of coffee with a link to James Hoffman's family tree of coffee, and a table of coffee genotypes from a paper published in the Brazilian Archives of Biology and Technology which I...
May 10, 2007: Top 5 Indicators of Sustainable Coffee
"Sustainable coffee is produced on a farm with high biological diversity and low chemical inputs. It conserves resources, protects the environment, produces efficiently, competes commercially and enhances the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole."-- Smithsonian Migratory...
January 20, 2007: Answers to BirdChatter questions
(updated June 2009) Recently, the topic of shade coffee came up on the popular Internet bird list, BirdChat. I hope BirdChatters will have a look around Coffee & Conservation, beginning with some of the posts listed under "Overview" at left....
December 31, 2006: Coffee and biodiversity hotspots
The image above (click to enlarge) is from the May 2002 issue of Scientific American ("Rethinking Green Consumerism") and shows the overlap of coffee growing areas and biodiversity hotspots (defined as spots housing 44% of all vascular plant species and...
December 8, 2006: Pesticides used on coffee farms, part 2: Common coffee pests
Coffee is equipped with an excellent defense against herbivory: caffeine. Caffeine is one of many alkaloids that evolved in various plants to prevent them from being eaten by insects. Evolution doesn't stand still, however, and some insects have fought back....
September 29, 2006: Coffee basics
Coffee & Conservation is all about helping consumers make the right choice when it comes to picking great coffee that is good for the environment. Coffee reviews are by regular folks using, we hope, understandable language and ordinary techniques. Still,...
July 1, 2006: Coffee harvest times by region
There's so much stuff at Sweet Maria's web site, seems like every time you visit you find another nugget. I found a great table of information on when the peak harvest and best shipping times are for coffee crops around...
May 24, 2006: Poverty and conservation, how coffee fits
The current issue of the Nature Conservancy magazine has several articles on the poverty and conservation equation. When I posted on "What is Fair Trade?" I wrote, Worldwide, habitat destruction is the leading cause of bird population declines and loss...
May 19, 2006: Regional coffee taste variations
A nice post at Ministry Grounds summarizing typical taste characteristics by coffee regions. It also mentions various botanical varieties, which I've covered in more detail here.
May 1, 2006: Botanical varieties of coffee
(Last updated Aug 2007) There are over 100 species of coffee (Coffea) in the world, and all are native to tropical Africa and some Indian Ocean islands (Madagascar, Macerenes). Most have very limited distribution, and over 70% are threatened with...
March 11, 2006:
Where to get certified shade-grown sustainable coffee
How the list of responsible coffee roasters on this site was developed, and the criteria used.
February 20, 2006: Who owns what?
You can find many different coffee brands on supermarket shelves, and frequently multiple brands are actually owned by one of only a few corporate conglomerates. Some of these companies have poor records when it comes to environmental and social responsibility....
February 6, 2006: What is shade grown coffee?
Coffee (Coffea sp.) is a small understory tree or shrub, and has traditionally been grown amongst forest trees, in the shade. Various studies indicate that arabica coffee has the highest yields under 35 to 65% shade. In addition, growing coffee...
February 5, 2006: The problems with sun coffee
Coffee (Coffea arabica) is an understory tree or shrub which naturally grows in shade. In order to increase the yield of coffee shrubs and individual farms, and to prevent crop loss from coffee leaf rust (Hemileia vastatrix), there was a...
February 4, 2006: Birds and coffee plantations
Traditional, shade-grown coffee plantations harbor a diversity of many taxa -- orchids, insects, and mammals, for example. But it is the research that showed the importance of shade coffee plantations to birds that caught the attention of the public, and...
February 4, 2006: Shade grown coffee certification
As explained in the introductory post on shade grown coffee, there is no set definition of the term "shade grown." Coffee may be labeled shade grown even if it is grown under minimal overstory that does little to preserve biodiversity....
February 3, 2006: Shade grown, Organic, Fair Trade: how do they relate?
If it's certified Fair Trade... Over 80% of the coffee certified Fair Trade in the U.S. (by TransFair USA) is also shade grown. Organizations that certify shade grown coffee are the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and the Rainforest Alliance. Nearly...
February 2, 2006: What is Fair Trade?
Worldwide, habitat destruction is the leading cause of bird population declines and loss of biodiversity. The link between poverty and environmental degradation is inescapable. Making sure that coffee farmers receive a living wage is one way to help preserve habitat...
February 1, 2006: About Coffee & Conservation
About Coffee & Conservation Coffee is probably one of the most poorly understood food products in the world, especially considering how ubiquitous it is in our lives -- Geoff Watts, coffee buyer, Intelligentsia. The purpose of Coffee & Conservation is...
December 27, 2005: Research: Major papers on biodiversity and coffee
Here are some background papers from peer-reviewed journals covering research on biodiversity and related issues in coffee plantations. New research of interest will be posted as it becomes available. You can find it by clicking the category Research on coffee...
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