Coffee grows on trees, but it can also grow underneath and around them. Coffee is sometimes labeled as "shade grown" and in order to understand the benefits of shade grown coffee, it is important to review the different ways in which coffee in grown.

Arabica vs Robusta

Coffee is not a uniform crop; there numerous varietals of coffee grown around the world. The main botanical division is between Arabica coffee and Robusta coffee. Robusta coffee can self-pollinate and grows at lower elevations where it can endure hotter temperature and more aggressive sun exposure. All specialty coffee (aka the good stuff) is Arabica coffee, which is insect-pollinated and and grows at higher elevations where it requires milder temperature and less sun exposure.

Finding Balance: Shade vs Sun

Coffee beans are the seeds of the fruit of the coffee tree, known as "cherries." The balance of temperature and sun that yields optimal cherry development differs between different varietals of Arabica coffee. There are some varietals, such as those grown on larger plantations in Brazil and Colombia, that do hold up under full sun. These heartier varietals tend to be some form of hybrid seeds selected for field performance that maximizes use of space. In terms of pure efficiency, shade grown coffee is not an efficient use of space because it initially means less trees per hectare and less harvestable coffee per hectare, although this can change over time. However, coffee grown under shade offers many other benefits, benefits that extend beyond simple yield calculations. Shade grown coffee is categorized as an agroforestry system. Agroforestry is just what it sounds like: agriculture merged with managed forests. Like any other tree, coffee needs sunlight and too much shade can be worse than none at all.

Green, unripe coffee cherries in development.

Brass Tax: Costs vs Benefits

Shade grown coffee does not subscribe to a single model; its cultivation is far more varied than that of full sun coffee. Different trees can be intercropped with coffee to achieve different goals. Some species of trees are nitrogen fixing and make key nutrients readily available in the soil. The falling leaves from these trees provide an additional layer of decomposing matter that acts as one kind of fertilizer. These falling leaves (known in the business as "leaf litter") also act as a preventative layer to keep weeds from growing up between the coffee trees, therefore lessening or even eliminating the need for herbicides, which are expensive and time consuming to apply, in addition to being environmentally detrimental. Shade trees have to be "regulated" or pruned to keep them from entirely blocking out the light that coffee needs to grow. Pruning requires manual labor, which quickly becomes an expensive additional cost for producers, whose highest cost is already the manual labor necessary to harvest coffee cherries by hand. Shade regulation also requires planning and timing, adding another variable layer to farm management. It's tricky, but plenty of producers understand the benefits and are willing to take on the work even if their coffee isn't sold for a premium under a "Shade Grown" label. Each producer practicing agroforestry has a different motivation and therefore a different plan of execution. Reasons for planting coffee as part of a shade system can relate to producers' concerns for soil and environmental health, financial strategizing, or the desire to be stewards of habitats for birds and mammals. Over time, studies have shown that shade systems also increase the yields of coffee trees. Working under agroforestry systems does not produce the immediate results that agrochemical fertilizers deliver, but in the long run shade coffee can offer more cherries per tree and per hectare than its conventional counterparts. Coffee agroforestry is integral to the ways in which today's coffee farming must adapt to changing climates, including rising and erratic temperatures and inconsistent, sporadic rainfall and periods of drought.

Certification: For the Birds

The only organization offering an official seal verifying that coffee is grown as part of a shade system is the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Institute with their Bird Friendly label. The SMBI applies Bird Friendly status to farms already certified organic; organic farms use shade as a tool, as mentioned above, to eliminate the need for herbicides. Bird Friendly shade grown coffee is cultivated in conjunction with the specific species of trees that provide habitats for migrating birds. Not all shade systems offer viable habitats, so Bird Friendly shade grown coffee is only one subsection of coffee agroforestry systems. Rainforest Alliance certification also requires farms to have some sort of shade trees planted with coffee, but it does not require these trees to create specific habitats. Rainforest Alliance looks to the health of the soil and whole ecosystems, and its reason for requiring trees is a much to stabilize soil and protect water sources from runoff as it is to encourage biodiversity of fauna. It is true that any agroforestry system invites more species of birds, animals, and insects than full sun coffee, but this varies depending on the other goals of growing coffee alongside other trees. Some other trees intercropped with coffee include avocado, orange, and banana trees. Fruit trees offer an additional source of income for producers, allowing them to diversify the crops on their land and not be subject to one lone market price that fluctuates wildly. Having multiple crops cultivated together offers harvests at different times of the year and hopefully offsets and major drop in the market price of one crop.

Avocados and coffee on Miguel Badilla's Rainforest Alliance certified farm in Santa Maria de Dota, Tarrazu, Costa Rica, 2012

Avocados, nitrogen fixing trees and coffee on Miguel Badilla's Rainforest Alliance certified farm in Santa Maria de Dota, Tarrazu, Costa Rica, 2012

Hardwood trees are also frequently planted with coffee. These may provide some habitats for birds, but mostly they provide medium and long term financial insurance. Hardwood trees like mahogany, walnut, cedar, and oak take many years to grow, but when they are harvested can be sold for a significant sum. Producers plant hardwood trees as a legacy for their children. Some producers also harvest hardwood on their farms for their own construction of furniture for their homes and farms. Coffee agroforestry is also part of larger carbon sequestration schemes and there are also discussions of ways producers can be paid for the carbon credits their farms generate. Coffee produced with minimal or without agrochemicals can quickly become carbon neutral, since coffee plants are themselves trees and therefore pull carbon from the atmosphere.

Shaded coffee at Finca Monte Claro organic farm in Turrialba, Costa Rica

Real World Experience

Different countries and different regions face different challenges in growing coffee and for some shade coffee is a no-brainer, while for others it is simply not feasible. Shade trees above coffee in places with particularly high moisture content can create a sort of tarp that incubates fungi that destroy coffee leaves. In other places, shade can create the perfect incubator for the microorganism that kills pesky bugs that eat the coffee cherries. Working with coffee agroforestry requires an initial, careful assessment of the conditions of a given farm. Some producers carry this out on their own and others have the benefit of resources provided by agricultural research institutes or national coffee offices. Usually, smaller farmers are the ones who opt to adopt shade and agroforestry models, but larger plantations have also demonstrated success, notably Aquiares Estate in Turrialba, Costa Rica. Turrialba was the first place I visited in my coffee travels during 2012-13. Read more about my observations on coffee, climate, and tropical agriculture at whencoffeespeaks.com and find out how producers themselves describe coffee production in When Coffee Speaks: Stories from and of Latin American Coffeepeople.

Fair trade coffees and direct trade coffees aim to make coffee production a viable livelihood for farmers in the dozens of countries where coffee is grown. Fair trade is not a single, stagnant solution; it is an evolving model (really a set of models) designed to advocate to for people who have, in the past, not been able to sustain themselves by growing coffee. Fair and direct trade work towards financial sustainability for growers, but how can sustainable agriculture help make coffee more fair to the environment? Coffee is a perennial crop, meaning the same coffee tree produces fruit for multiple years. It’s a stretch to think that your morning latte comes from the seeds of little red cherries grown on a leafy tropical plant, but the reality is that coffee does in fact grow on trees. Like any other crop, coffee grows better with fertilizer and requires inputs to protect it from pests and plagues in the forms of insects and fungi. The fertilizers, insecticides, and fungicides used to boost and protect coffee and the herbicides used to control weeds around coffee trees can fall within a wide range of toxicity. Sustainable coffee farming is similar to sustainable agriculture in general in that its goal is to keep coffee trees productive without dousing them with chemicals that will destroy soil and nearby water sources or poison other flora and fauna. Several certifications exist to assure consumers that coffee is produced in ways that account for the long term environmental health of coffee farms.

Rainforest Alliance:

Rainforest is a New York-based non-profit that sets certification standards based on maintaining holistic biodiversity in accordance with the very stringent principles of the Sustainable Agriculture Network. Various auditing agencies check farms of all shapes and sizes against these standards. Rainforest is comprehensive in its concern for individuals, communities, and ecosystems. Rainforest is different from organic because organic certification requires the complete absence of agrochemicals and chemical fertilizers, while Rainforest permits the use of those with low toxicity. However, organic certification does not require that farmers manage their waste products responsibly, whereas Rainforest does. There is no guaranteed premium for Rainforest certified coffee, but there is always some small price differential that makes it to producers. Rainforest Alliance certification not only requires producers to use low toxicity products, plant trees and diverse species of natural barrier plants on the property, ensure protection of water sources, and impeccably manage waste, it requires producers to keep organized documentation of all of the above. Certifications require lots and lots of paperwork. Getting a farm certified can come down to whether or not a single piece of paper has been saved to present to auditors or was lost in the shuffle. Rainforest Alliance has the reputation among Latin American farmers for being the strictest. View Rainforest Alliance standards.

Organic:

Organic coffee production must adhere to mandates dictated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). The requirements to be USDA certified organic are essentially a long list of products that cannot be used. Farmers are required to submit proof of the approved products they have used to fertilize and control pests. The same accredited organizations that audit for Rainforest Alliance certification also often audit for organic. It is common for farms to be dual certified. Usually, if a farm is organic it is not a stretch to have it Rainforest Alliance certified, or vice versa. All certified organic farms must undergo a "transition period" during which no agrochemicals are used to that the soil can return to its "natural" equilibrium. This sort of limbo period can be an additional challenge to producers, who lose money on decreases in production from suddenly loosing profits and who have not yet been certified in order to receive premiums. View USDA Organic standards. There are plenty of farms that are organic or otherwise sustainable that do not earn certifications proving so. This has to do with logistics or money or both. Farms can be intensively managed as organic with chemical-free fertilizers and pest/plague control inputs, or they can be de facto organic because producers don't have the resources to buy expensive inputs. The balance of moisture levels, hours and intensity of sunshine, and initial soil fertility make certain places more apt for organic farming and others near impossible locations for organic production. Read The Ins and Outs of Organics: Demystifying Production.

Bird Friendly:

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Institute offers Bird Friendly certification to farms that are already certified organic and meet additional regulations to ensure they offer habitats for migratory bird species. View Bird Friendly Standards. All certified coffees have an added layer of oversight. This layer is a thick slice of bureaucracy that requires paperwork, chains of custody, signed documents, and legal seals of approval. Whether all this positively impacts farmers and the environment is the million dollar question. The people who work at these organizations swear it does, and sometimes I’ve seen evidence that supports it. Farmers are of mixed opinion, ranging from passionate supporter to vehement anti-certification. Like everything with coffee, it varies from country to country, mountain to mountain, and farm to farm. In When Coffee Speaks: Stories from and of Latin American Coffeepeople producer Gladys Araque of La Pradera, Antioquia, Colombia describes the pride she feels in producing a clean product in harmony with her surroundings and how she is even prouder that her farm has multiple certifications as external corroboration of the work she and her husband do to produce sound coffee.

“As one becomes more educated, with trainings and workshops, in these steps, you start to see that final product improves. These have been five years where people are saying, “Oh look, you’re certified,” but to us it’s not really about—like I said—“Money, money!” Rather it’s about learning and then being able to apply it to your very own soil, to your very own cafetales, your trees. That’s what’s carried us. Perseverance on one hand and on the other hand because we like it. We like living in nature, and we like doing things well in order to see the positive results. We get to be very proud. People ask us, “How do you do it?” And we’re always thinking, more than anything, about the client. The person who’s going to drink it, whether it’s you or someone else. I have the peace of mind that this coffee is well made. This is fundamental, not thinking about money, rather about whether or not people like it. That they can drink it and say, “What delicious coffee! How did they make this?” And that it’s as natural as possible. That it doesn’t have many chemicals; that’s the idea. We don’t like to use anything that will harm the soil. The most difficult is to get people to understand the importance of taking good care of things. It’s hard for everyone to understand. To get people to understand their own worth and to value what they do is very, very hard. Certifications make very harsh criticisms—unfortunately—some of those were of our own neighbors. Our very own neighbors don’t want to be a part of what we wish everyone could work together towards. This part has been hard. Everything else has been doable, but for people to understand has been hard. We started as one hundred families, and at the end there are seven of us certified. Only seven families out of a hundred. So it’s very sad. We’d like everyone to be a part of the journey that is so wonderful. But, unfortunately, this is what hurts us the most. The biggest success is to feel so satisfied knowing that people who drink our coffee are drinking it with all the guarantees that what we’re doing is as low impact as possible. We’re not lying. It’s true what we’re doing. It’s a coffee that’s created with lots of work and lots of love. We really are working towards something bigger.” – p. 278

Coffees certified as sustainable are not perfect, but they do serve as a way to capture the attitudes of producers like Gladys who dedicate their lives to preserving a balance with nature and share those values with likeminded consumers. Stay tuned for the next post explaining Shade Grown Coffee. All photos by Rachel Northrop. See more at whencoffeespeaks.com.