Coffee growing in Brazil, in brief: Coffee was first planted in Brazil in the early 1700s. By the mid-1800s, Brazil was already the world’s #1 producer of coffee, a distinction is still holds today. However, it produces a great deal…
Revised on August 13, 2022Coffee and the environment
Today is Blog Action Day: thousands of bloggers are uniting to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind. This year, it’s the environment. Coffee & Conservation is all about the impact of coffee growing on the environment. Because coffee…
Revised on December 21, 2020Rainforest Alliance Cupping for Quality. This event was started in 2004 as a competition for Rainforest Alliance certified coffees. The most recent cuppings took place last December and in April, with over 100 samples submitted. There are many top-flight sustainable…
Revised on January 7, 2022In a well-investigated and detailed report (pdf) released yesterday, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) revealed that robusta coffee is being illegally grown in southern Sumatra, with most being purchased by large coffee producers such as Kraft and NestlÁ©.
Revised on April 23, 2021Coffee growing areas and biodiversity hotspots overlap, illustrating the importance of encouraging — through our purchasing power — coffee farms that preserve habitat.
Revised on August 14, 2011I’m sure once you examine the effects of the pesticides that are commonly used on coffee, you will agree that the workers, the environment, and the folks downstream are all better off if coffee is grown without pesticides. Careful cultivation…
Revised on January 7, 2022Information on the common pesticides used on coffee.
Revised on May 20, 2021Coffee 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….
Revised on November 28, 2020Coffee requires quite specific growing conditions. Its sensitivity to climatic variables means that global climate change is likely to have profound impacts on coffee growing and production.
Revised on November 14, 2019In 2003, a number of important researchers debated the conservation value of promoting shade-grown coffee in the pages of the journal Conservation Biology. First Rappole et al. [1] wrote that if the result of promoting shade coffee resulted in the…
Revised on December 21, 2018It is important to understand the various levels of growing coffee under shade. This lists the five most typical categories, from the most desirable, traditional growing method, to the least diverse, most modern and technified method.
Revised on January 7, 2022In order to increase the yield of coffee shrubs and individual farms, coffee farmers were encouraged to replace traditional shade grown coffee with sun cultivation. Over 2.5 million acres of forests in Central America were destroyed to make way for monocultures of sun grown coffee.
Revised on October 22, 2016Traditional, 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…
Revised on January 7, 2022