A group of authors have an open-access paper in the journal People and Nature, a publication of the British Ecological Society: Tapping birdwatchers to promote bird-friendly coffee consumption and conserve birds. The authors noted there are 45 million birdwatchers in the U.S. alone, and they are considered the primary target of coffee certification schemes. They…
Certifications
Finding Bird-Friendly coffee – now easier
The Bird-Friendly website at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has made it easier to find local and online retailers of Bird-Friendly certified coffee. There is an interactive map to find local roasters. I found the page for online purchases is especially nice — each coffee has a brief description and a direct link to the…
Integrated Open Canopy: a land sharing strategy for coffee
Some time ago, I wrote a detailed post about “land sharing” versus “land sparing“, two agriculture strategies. In a nutshell, land sharing is the use of cover crops, interplantings, and other measures that seek to approximate natural habitat, inviting birds and other biodiversity within the crop. Land sparing utilizes a patchwork of more intensive agriculture…
New Rainforest Alliance criteria for shade
In 2017, Rainforest Alliance announced they would merge with Utz (another certification), retain the Rainforest Alliance name, and develop a new standard — the set of rules and criteria required for a product to be labeled with the Rainforest Alliance certification seal. This standard was released on 30 June 2020. Here I will summarize, as…
Rainforest Alliance certified coffee: useless to evaluate shade-grown conditions
Do not use Rainforest Alliance certification as an indication that coffee was shade-grown or even particularly eco-friendly. And the new proposed rules will make it even less likely.
Rainforest Alliance and UTZ to merge
Rainforest Alliance and UTZ (Certified), two major certifiers of coffee and other products, are merging.
The new Rainforest Alliance shade requirements
A new standard for Rainforest Alliance certification has been issued. Here, the changes to the “shade” criteria are explained.
The Power of Organic Coffee
This article originally appeared in the Specialty Coffee Association of America’s member publication, the SCAA Chronicle.
Rainforest Alliance impacts report, Part 2
Studies in the Rainforest Alliance impacts reports hint at why some criteria in the proposed standard may be weaker.
Rainforest Alliance impacts report, Part 1
The Rainforest Alliance impacts report says 82% of coffee farms comply with current shade requirements. Yet they have said that most farms do not fully implement these requirements, and that’s why they proposed weakening this requirement. What’s going on?
Update on proposed new Rainforest Alliance standard
An update on the upcoming revision of the Rainforest Alliance standard.
Rainforest Alliance drastically revises shade requirement
[Updates: Since this post, the standard revision, and the merger with UTZ, many of the links in this post have been eliminated; I’ve replaced them with archived links that will hopefully provide historical context. The newest 2020 standard is discussed here.] The Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) is revising the standards used for Rainforest Alliance certification;…
Corporate money and pseudo-certifications
In return for financial support that represents a tiny fraction of profits, large corporations are receiving ”endorsements” in the form of product badges promoting health benefits or sustainability efforts — despite the fact that many of these corporations have rotten sustainability records.
Keurig purchasing less certified coffee
Keurig Green Mountain is buying more and more coffee, but less of it is eco-certified.
UTZ Certified: revised Code of Conduct
Revised Code of Conduct weakens encouragement for shade coffee, emphasizing that this is not an “eco-certification.”