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…
Coffee and the environment
A rusty nail in the coffin of organic-certified coffee?
Coffee leaf rust: a disease that may also threaten organic coffee.
Is coffee really at risk of extinction?
Let’s take a look at what a recent scientific paper ACTUALLY said about the impacts of climate change on coffee, versus what the media had to say.
More pollinator research for Pollinator Week
Lots of coffee and pollinator resources for Pollinator Week.
First Rainforest Alliance climate-friendly coffee farm(s)
(Updated) Finca Platanillo in San Marcos, western Guatemala is the first coffee farm to be verified by Rainforest Alliance (RA) for compliance with the Climate Module of the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN, the standards-setting organization for RA). Less than a week later, it was announced that the well-known Daterra Estate in Minas Gerias, Brazil became…
Climate change threatens east African coffee via borers
Some like it hot: The influence and implications of climate change on coffee berry borer (Hypothenemus hampei) and coffee production in east Africa. Jaramillo et al. 2011. PLoS One. An important new paper published this week outlines the threat posed by the expansion of coffee berry borers in east Africa due to climate change. This…
K-Cups are now recyclable! Not really.
A closer look at a new program to recover K-Cups.
Two degrees up
The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) produced a series of short films on what a changing climate could mean for farming communities in East and West Africa, and South America. The segment below is the impact on coffee producers in Colombia — not only what changing climate could mean, but what it does mean…
Mitigating climate change with coffee
Results from a research project on mitigating climate change in Mesoamerican coffee production.
Climate change impacts on coffee nations
The Center for Global Development recently released data on the vulnerability of countries around the world to climate change. I’ve taken slices of two maps that show the latitudes where coffee is grown. Both maps rank agricultural productivity loss, with countries having the most impact in darker reds, less impact in oranges and yellows. The…
Short video on shade coffee and birds
The Colombian bird conservation organization FundaciÁ³n ProAves is now presenting a short video, “Shade-grown coffee and saving migratory birds of North and Latin America.” A lot of the tropical footage was shot in their Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve and the community of San Vicente de Chucuri in Santander Department. It also touches on the issues…
Coffee and climate change updates
While many of us in the U.S. are shivering through one of the coldest and snowiest winters in recent memory, we need to keep in mind that weather is not the same as climate. Climate change and rising temperatures in tropical regions is and will continue to have a profound impact on coffee growing. Here are some recent resources.
Uganda’s wild coffee
A project to manage sustainable harvesting of coffee and provide income for local communities around a national park in Uganda failed, but the concept shouldn’t be abandoned.
Coffee and climate change: updated resources
Coffee and climate change resources.
Research: Shade coffee conserves bee diversity
Coffee farmers don’t need to rely just on the presence of landscape-level forests to provide pollinator resources. Their own farm management can have strong impacts on local bee abundance and diversity.