JulieCraves

Certifications / Coffee regions / Rainforest Alliance

Rainforest Alliance certifies coffee in Vietnam

An oversupply of coffee was one of the catalysts of the world coffee crisis in the 1990s, and most of it came from Vietnam. Vietnam increased production 1100% that decade, assisted by development agencies and large multinational coffee roasters. Nearly all the coffee grown in this country is robusta (Coffea canephora), generally low quality beans historically used as filler in blends or in cheap coffee.

The planting of hundreds of thousands of hectares of robusta coffee in the 1990s alone, with its associated destruction of forest, caused significant environmental problems. The Buon Ma Thuot region Vietnam’s Central Highlands was at the center of the coffee boom, and it is also the focus of Rainforest Alliance’s (RA) efforts in promoting sustainable coffee production in the country.

RA began holding workshops in Vietnam several years ago, and two large coffee export companies (Dakman Vietnam, part of Volcafe; and ECOM Group) were especially responsive. These companies buy coffee from farmers who typically grow coffee on small farms less than 2 ha (5 ac) in size. By the end of 2008, over 600 farms (1000 ha) were RA certified. Now over 1000 farms are certified, covering 1600 ha (nearly 4000 ac). This is still a very small percentage of the area in coffee production, but encouraging as this is generally commodity coffee used by multinational roasters (I believe Kraft is a major purchaser).

Robusta coffee is typically grown in the sun, so the RA certification does not mean the coffee is shade grown. Instead, the certification emphasizes reduced agrochemical use, better waste management, and water conservation. Environmental and wildlife education efforts are also increasing.

Update: In 2019, the chapter, PGI Buon Ma Thuot Coffee in Vietnam, was published in the book Sustainability of European Food Quality Schemes, and is open access.

Robusta coffee farm in Vietnam’s Central Highlands by amasc under a Creative Commons license.

 

Birds and other biodiversity / Research on coffee growing

Research: Birds reduce coffee pests in Jamaica, take 2

Pest reduction services by birds in shade and sun coffee in Jamaica. 2010. Johnson, M. D., J. L. Kellermann, and A. M. Stercho. Animal Conservation 13:140-147.

Matt Johnson’s team from Humboldt State University (CA) continues its excellent research on birds and ecosystem services on coffee farms in Jamaica. This study, similar to others, looked at pest reduction on a 18 ha farm, Kew Park Coffee. This farm is about 70% shaded; the other 30% has shade trees too young to provide shade yet. The farm also has one side bordered by dense second growth forest.

Exclosures were placed on some coffee trees to prevent birds (but not insects) from accessing them, and the number of insects on these and control trees were examined. The authors found that on trees where birds had access, there was a 40 to 58% reduction in the coffee berry borer (CBB), or broca (Hypothenemus hampei), the world’s most serious coffee pest.

The most common means of controlling CBB are the nasty pesticide endosulfan (although some are developing resistance), or scent traps. Traps are most effective when female CBBs leave coffee cherries to lay eggs in other cherries; the birds in these studies usually attacked the CBBs as they were entering new cherries. Thus, the birds can provide an extra layer of control even on farms that use traps. The authors determined that the pest reduction by the birds on this small farm amounted to 12% of the value of the crop.

This study did not find that birds were more effective at controlling pests in shade than in sun, but it may have been due to the small size of the farm and the proximity of adjacent forested area. A previous study on four different Jamaican farms by some of the same researchers found that the birds consuming CBBs declined dramatically in abundance as distance from forest patches increased. Birds may have made use of the unshaded portions of the farm in the current study because of the amount of forest and shaded coffee surrounding it. I saw a presentation by another member of this research team at a recent ornithological conference that indicated some of the bird species in question foraged in coffee during the day, but retreated to forest patches to roost at night.

Bird species found in the shaded portion of the farm in good numbers, but not at all in the sun portions, included the national bird of Jamaica, the Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), a hummingbird also known as “Doctorbird”, shown above); another resident hummingbird, the Jamaican Mango (Anthracothorax mango); and the North American migrants the Black-and-white Warbler (Mniotilta varia) and Prairie Warbler (Dendroica discolor), which winter on the island.

Johnson, M., Kellermann, J., & Stercho, A. (2010). Pest reduction services by birds in shade and sun coffee in Jamaica Animal Conservation, 13 (2), 140-147 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2009.00310.x

Certifications / Rainforest Alliance

Rainforest Alliance announces growth in certified coffee

In December, I reported on the 2008 global market statistics for Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (SMBC)  Bird-Friendly-certified coffee. For the 2007-2008 crop year, 2700 metric tons (6 million pounds) of Bird-Friendly certified coffee was produced. This certification is at the farm level, with 1400 farms and 5000 ha (12,000 acres) under certification.

At the time, comparable numbers for Rainforest Alliance (RA)-certified coffee for 2008 totaled 62,296 metric tons (137 million pounds), up from around 40,000 metric tons (89 million pounds) in late 2007. As of late 2007, RA had 200,000 ha of coffee on nearly 17,000 farms.

Farmers typically receive a price premium of 5 to 10 cents per pound of Bird-Friendly-certified coffee on top of the premium they receive from their organic certification (a requirement for Bird-Friendly certification).

RA has announced figures for 2009. Production of RA-certified coffee was 168,114 metric tones (370 million pounds), an increase of 36% from 2008.  As of December 2009, there were 27,610 Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farms around the world with 305,383 ha (754,618 acres) of land under certification (not all in production…this represents all the land on certified farms). I believe this represents 22 countries. Nine were added this year including India, Kenya, Uganda, the United States, Vietnam and Zambia.

Note that production volumes do not mean all the coffee grown under certified conditions was sold as such. Certified coffee may be blended with non-certified coffee, or the buyer may be interested in other attributes besides the certification and purchases it without intending to market it as certified, to give just a couple of examples.

However, RA indicated that their sales of certified beans grew by 41% in 2009, and that since 2003, the supply of RA-certified coffee has grown by an average of 64% annually with sales increasing by an average of 77% a year over the same period.

RA states that farmers receive an average price premium of $0.11 per pound of coffee.

Retail and specialty roasters / Starbucks

Starbucks news

Some recent sustainability-related news regarding Starbucks:

  • Starbucks has a new Conservation International-branded loyalty card. Every time a customer uses a CI Starbucks card from now through the end of 2010, five cents will go to Conservation International for forest preservation. Starbucks cards are re-loadable cards used for purchases at their stores; registered cards earn rewards. These cards are only available in U.S. stores, but I presume that, like other cards, can be used at any store worldwide.Conservation International has been partnered with Starbucks for over a decade. They worked together to develop Starbucks’ Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.) Practices coffee sourcing guidelines and created a funding mechanism to address climate change in coffee growing regions. You can read more about their project that led to Starbucks Organic Shade Grown Mexico coffee variety here. CI’s Charity Navigator profile here.
  • Starbucks has become a sponsor of the Betacup challenge, which is looking for a way to reduce the waste from the 58 million paper coffee cups that are thrown away annually. The company will furnish the $20,000 of prize money. Small potatoes for Starbucks, but they have their own cup-related initiatives (see below) and cups are not a huge part of the company’s environmental footprint. Starbucks has already committed to making all of its cups recyclable or reusable in the next five years (including their plastic beverage cups), part of a suite of sustainability issues in their Shared Planet program. After all, it’s up to the consumer to reuse, recycle, or bring their own mug.
  • A Starbucks store in France won a sustainable retail design award. This store was the first international store that went for LEED-certification, indicating building sustainability. The company plans to have all its new stores LEED-certified. It also has a LEED-certified roasting facility, and the Starbucks headquarters in Seattle is the oldest and largest building to get LEED certification.

Starbucks cup photo by Josh Semans under a Creative Commons License.