"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
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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
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Birds and other biodiversity category archives
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July 9, 2009: Know your coffee birds: Baltimore Oriole
Baltimore Orioles rely on flowering trees, especially the species commonly used to provide shade to coffee, during their winter months in Latin America.
June 27, 2009: Research: Andean shade coffee quality habitat for birds
Bakermans, M. H., A. C. Vitz, A. D. Rodewald, and C. G. Rengifo. 2009. Migratory songbird use of shade coffee in the Venezuelan Andes with implications for the conservation of the cerulean warbler. Biological Conservation. Accepted manuscript, online. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.05.018 Most...
June 7, 2009: Cerulean Warbler Reserve coffee certified
A coffee farm that is part of the ProAves Cerulean Warbler Reserve in Santander, Colombia was recently certified by Rainforest Alliance (under the cooperative Asociación de Cafés Sostenibles de Santander). The 15 ha farm was acquired in 2006 by ProAves,...
March 26, 2009: Nicaraguan shade coffee: Finca Esperanza Verde
My experiences on shade and bird diversity at Nicaragua's Finca Esperanza Verde.
March 2, 2009: Know your coffee birds: Emerald Toucanet
The Emerald Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus) is the most widely distributed member of the toucan family. It can be found from Mexico through Central America south to Bolivia. As might be expected for a species with such as broad geographic range,...
December 9, 2008: Know your coffee birds: Black-throated Blue Warbler
The North American Wood Warblers are known for their colorful beauty. The male Black-throated Blue Warbler (Dendrioca caerulescens, left) is one of the most beautiful. This species is one of the most sexually dimorphic as well -- the female is...
September 6, 2008: Know your coffee birds: Jacu
Jacus (guans) are birds that eat ripe coffee cherries.One might imagine this habit would draw the ire of coffee farmers. But at least one enterprising producer is using the philosophy, "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Or in this case, "If life gives you bird crap with coffee beans it it, make coffee."
August 26, 2008: Research: Woodpeckers and ants in India's shade coffee
Vishnudas, C. K. 2008. Crematogaster ants in shaded coffee plantations: a critical food source for Rufous Woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus and other forest birds. Indian Birds 4:9-11. Rufous Woodpeckers are ant specialists. The Rufous Woodpecker is one of the twelve woodpecker...
August 15, 2008: Know your coffee birds: Tennessee Warbler
Tennessee Warblers are one of the classic winter residents of shade coffee farms in Central America and northern South America, which led tropical ornithologist Alexander Skutch to conclude that they really should be named "Coffee Warbler."
August 4, 2008: Research: Sumatran coffee weak on preserving forest biodiversity
Philpott, S. M., P. Bichier, R. A. Rice, and R. Greenberg. 2008. Biodiversity conservation, yield, and alternate products in coffee agrosystems in Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversity Conservation 17:1805-1820. The vast majority of field research on biodiversity conservation in coffee agrosystems has...
July 10, 2008: Know your coffee birds: Blue-crowned Motmot
I'd like to inaugurate my "Know your coffee birds" series with the bird Coffee & Conservation uses to rate coffees (e.g., a "five star" coffee here is a "five motmot" coffee): the Blue-crowned Motmot (Momotus momota). Motmots are a family...
March 23, 2008: New Cerulean Warbler coffee available
You've followed the saga of the flagship shade-coffee bird, the Cerulean Warbler, on these pages. If you need to catch up: An introduction to the declining Cerulean Warbler, and its connection to shade coffee on its Colombia wintering grounds. Discussion...
December 27, 2007: More shade coffee farms for Cerulean Warblers
If there is a single bird strongly associated with shade coffee right now, it's the Cerulean Warbler. I've written about the connection between coffee and Cerulean Warblers in the past. I've also discussed the Save the Cerulean Warbler Campaign by...
April 10, 2007: Research: Forest birds using Costa Rican coffee farms
Persistence of forest birds in the Costa Rican agricultural countryside. C. H. Sekercioglu, S. R. Loarie, F. Oviedo Brenes, P. R. Ehrlich, and G. C. Daly. 2007. Conservation Biology 21:482-494. This study radiotracked several species of resident forest birds in...
March 8, 2007: Research: Birds in shade coffee favor plant diversity
Dietsch, T.V., I. Perfecto, and R. Greenberg. 2007. Avian foraging behavior in two different types of coffee agrosystem in Chiapas, Mexico. Biotropica 39:232-240. Other studies have documented that structural diversity is important in coffee farms -- it is the complexity...
January 31, 2007: Saving the Cerulean Warbler campaign
I last wrote about the Cerulean Warbler and shade coffee in August 2006, when the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) announced they would be working with coffee growers to preserve critical wintering habitat around the new 500-acre Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve...
January 9, 2007: Endangered coffee
I previously discussed the important species and varieties of coffee. An understanding of these varieties can be of great help to consumers looking for sustainable coffee, as different types are typically grown under shade or sun conditions. The species and...
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...
November 22, 2006: Research: Nesting birds in shade coffee
Gleffe, J.D., J. A. Collazo, M. J. Groom, and L. Miranda-Castro. 2006. Avian reproduction and the conservation value of shaded coffee plantations. Ornitologia Neotropical 17: 271-282. Most of the research on birds and coffee farms focuses on migrant birds which...
November 3, 2006: Research: The value of wild coffee
Hein, L. and F. Gratweiler. 2006. The economic value of coffee (Coffea arabica) genetic resources. Ecological Economics 60:76-185. This fascinating paper is not about the sort of ecological research I usually summarize here, but absolutely keeps with the theme of...
October 29, 2006: Shade coffee in bird magazine
The November/December 2006 issue of Bird Watcher's Digest has an article on shade coffee by author and well-known birder Paul Baicich. It's on newstands now, and gives a nice overview of shade coffee benefits and issues.
October 11, 2006: Abstracts on presentations at the NAOC
Here are some very brief summaries of research that had to do with coffee growing that were presented at North American Ornithological Conference. I also put together a page with full abstracts, and author contacts. Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea) foraging...
September 24, 2006: Research: American Redstarts in Jamaica
Johnson, M.D., T.W. Sherry, R. T. Holmes, and P.P. Marra. 2006. Assessing habitat quality for a migratory songbird wintering in natural and agricultural habitats. Conservation Biology 20:1433-1444. This study examined American Redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) in natural and agricultural habitats in...
August 25, 2006: Cerulean Warblers and shade coffee
The Cerulean Warbler (Dendroica cerulea) is a bird in trouble. It breeds in the eastern U.S. and winters in South America, and populations have been on the slide in recent decades -- faster than any other eastern warbler. It is...
August 23, 2006: The Songbird Foundation
The Songbird Foundation was founded in 1997 by singer Danny O'Keefe to raise public awareness about the problems with sun coffee. They had benefit concerts that included artists such as Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Brown, Keb Mo, and John Mayer. They...
August 5, 2006: Research: Biodiversity in wild coffee farms in Ethiopia
Senbeta, F. and M. Denich. 2006. Effects of wild coffee management on species diversity in the Afromontane rainforests of Ethiopia. Forest Ecology and Management 232:68-74. Traditional coffee management in Ethiopia ranges from harvesting cherries in relatively undisturbed forest, to reducing...
August 1, 2006: World biodiversity crisis
The main thrust of Coffee & Conservation is how to choose sustainable coffees -- those that help preserve biodiversity. The more you understand the depth and urgency of the biodiversity crisis we face on Earth today, the more motivated you...
July 10, 2006: Research: Bat diversity in different types of shade coffee
Garcia Estrada, C., A. Damon, C. Sanchez Hernandez, L. Soto Pinto, and G. Ibarra Nunez. 2006. Bat diversity in montane rainforest and shaded coffee under different management practices in southeastern Chiapas, Mexico. Biological Conservation 132:351-361. Southeastern Chiapas is Mexico's primary...
June 14, 2006: Research: Shade coffee farms as habitat for monkeys
Williams-Guillén, K., C. McCann, J.C. Martínez Sánchez, and F. Koontz. 2006. Resource availability and habitat use by mantled howling monkeys in a Nicaraguan coffee plantation: can agroforests serve as core habitat for a forest mammal? Animal Conservation (published as an...
April 24, 2006: Research: Birds and lizards as insect predators in shade coffee
Borkhataria, R. R., J. A. Collazo, and M. J. Groom. 2006. Additive effects of vertebrate predators on insects in a Puerto Rican coffee plantation. Ecological Applications 16:696-703. The authors used an exclosure study to see if birds and lizards had...
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....
January 27, 2006: Research: Shade grown coffee and orchids
A paper in the journal Conservation Biology reports that shade coffee plantations in Mexico provide refuge for orchids from lower montane cloud forest habitats -- the most endangered forest type in the country, now comprising only 1% of Mexico's land....
January 11, 2006: Research: Ant diversity in coffee plantations
These two recent papers discuss the diversity and role of ants in coffee plantations, and how the growing method (sun versus shade) impacts these ants. Ants are vital in ecosystems. In tropical forests, there are entire groups of birds (known...
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...
December 6, 2005: Research: Veracruz biodiversity
Pineda, E., C. Moreno, F. Escobar, and G. Halffter. 2005. Frog, bat, and dung beetle diversity in the cloud forest and coffee agrosystems of Veracruz, Mexico. Conservation Biology 19: 400-410. Cloud forest fragments and shade coffee plantations were compared in...
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