“One Generation Plants a Tree – The Next Generation Enjoys the Shade”: Rainforest Alliance Certification in Uganda’s Tea Estates

Early morning in a Ugandan tea field

Farmers can choose among many different ways of certifying their crops. In the past, I have discussed well-known certifications, including Organic and Fair-trade, as well as less well-known ones, such as Certified Local Sustainable. One that I have not described is the Rainforest Alliance certification. To do so, I brought in an expert!

Denis Twinamatsiko

Our expert is Denis Twinamatsiko who is currently working with Rainforest Alliance certification programs in Uganda. To help me here, Denis has kindly answered some questions regarding this certification process in the Ugandan context (all quotations and photographs are Denis's). 

How and why did you get involved with Rainforest Alliance in Uganda?

Denis told me he became involved with Rainforest Alliance certification through his work with black tea crops in Uganda. His firm works with six tea estates (and over 400 smallholder farmers) along the legendary Rwenzori mountain ranges.

Denis explained that although his firm met multiple food safety and environmental standards, they chose Rainforest Alliance certification to improve overall sustainability in the tea estates.

“We have been re-energized by a recent report released by International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) titled “Future Climate Scenarios for Uganda’s Tea Growing Areas”, which revealed that climatic suitability of much of Uganda’s tea growing areas will decline significantly by 2050 and hence a wakeup call for everyone involved in the tea sector here in Uganda.”

Tea tasting 

What makes the Rainforest Alliance Certification different from other Certifications, such as Organic?

Denis explained that Rainforest Alliance considers economic, environmental, and social issues, whereas organic certifications strictly address environmental concerns. While organic certification prohibits the any use of agrochemicals, Rainforest Alliance allows farmers to use a limited amount of agrochemicals in a controlled manner. At the same time, Rainforest Alliance requires farmers to engage in ecosystem, water, and wildlife conservation, to create an agriculture-ecosystem continuum across landscape (for a list of all the requirements click here). In addition, Rainforest Alliance requires that farms provide fair wages and safe working conditions for their farmers. So, although the Rainforest Alliance certification may not be 100% organic, its farming standards take into account people and wildlife too.

Forest patch next to tea factory

In your experience, how has this certification brought positive change to farmers and farms in your region?

Rainforest Alliance certified crops appear to be a win-win situation for farmers and the environment. Denis shared that certified farmers maintain patches of natural forests within the tea estates. Keeping forests in the tea-landscape helps farmers lower agriculture costs because they become less reliant on fertilizers or pesticides and more reliant on natural ecosystem processes for crop-care. For example, forests are sources of natural predators (meaning they will need less chemical pesticides) and forests can help maintain soil health and prevent erosion. At the same time, when farmers keep forest patches within tea estates it is one form of conserving biodiversity. Tourists have recognized that Rainforest Alliance tea estates are important for biodiversity conservation, Denis shared, and they are visiting these estates to observe the fauna that can be found there!

Denis made another important point. When farms become certified, farmers start documentation of the process as a form of an internal control system; farmers can use these records to help predict long-term tea production patterns and this can benefit their business.

I was surprised to learn that Rainforest Alliance is not just important locally, but international tea buyers are showing a preference for Rainforest Alliance Certified Teas, and offering higher prices for them. Denis explained that “Lipton, one of the largest tea buyers in the world has committed to sourcing all of their tea from Rainforest Alliance Certified estates by 2015”.

Tea field next to forest patch

In light of the positive aspects of this certification, why aren’t all Ugandan tea estates becoming certified?

Denis mentioned that owners of tea estates can be reluctant to become certified because they would need to provide workers with fair wages. In Uganda, for example, there is no national minimum wage, and some farms may prefer to keep underpaying their workers.

Government support for environmental and social well-being is very important to gain wider acceptance of Rainforest Alliance, says Denis. He explained that without national standards people may be less willing to learn about or even adopt the sustainable practices. For example, Uganda does not have a national soil-conservation policy. Thus, many farmers prefer to burn a patch of land to clear it for agriculture rather than try some of the integrated soil management techniques proposed by Rainforest Alliance.

Denis’s work reminds us that even the simple things in life, such as tea drinking, have direct impacts on how the landscape looks, and, more importantly, how it will look in years to come. Denis said it best when he recalled the African proverb, “one generation plants a tree – the next generation enjoys the shade”.

Tea field

Bean-to-Bar: An Interview with a Caribbean Organic Chocolate-Maker

A Selection of Caribeans Chocolates at the Feria Verde, Costa Rica

I have recently been attending the weekly Feria Verde Farmer’s Market (a.k.a. Green Market) in San José, Costa Rica. This market is full of farmers selling their agrochemical-free fruits. The market also provides a space for people who process raw food materials and sell unique food products. One of these products is chocolate. 

My love for chocolate inspired me to talk with Paul Johnson, who runs a business - Caribeans - that brings locally-sourced, organic, and fair-trade chocolate from his farm in the Caribbean to San José. In fact, Paul not only travels from his farm to bring us chocolate, but he travels all over the country working with Indigenous peoples to obtain a chocolate bar's main ingredient, cacao beans. But, instead of hearing it all from me, I’ll let Paul tell you about these experiences through our brief Q & A (all quotations are Paul's).

1) Many of us who are not in the chocolate business have little to no idea where the cacao beans in our chocolate come from. Your business is unique in that you are one of only a few bean-to-bar chocolate makers. Could you explain what it means when chocolate is produced from bean-to-bar?

"Caribeans gets the cocoa bean directly from the local producers who have prepared the beans by fermenting and drying them. Once the beans are in the “chocolate creation lab” we process them from the bean to the chocolate bar all in one location." 

Paul also explained that chocolate-makers fall into two or three categories: 1) bean-to-bar, 2) tree-to-bar, and 3) chocolatier (someone who makes chocolate bars from chocolate that has already been processed). Caribeans is both bean-to-bar as well as tree-to-bar.

A Cacao Tree in the Costa Rican Caribbean

A Cacao Fruit (the cacao beans are found inside the fruit)

2) When I first saw your chocolate at the market, I noticed that on each individual chocolate bar you include the names of the towns where the chocolate beans came from. For example, I tried chocolate from two Indigenous communities, one Ngöbe and one Bribri. Could you elaborate on why having the names of these communities on your chocolate is important?

Paul discussed that providing the consumer with the names of the chocolate sources directly on the product is consistent with the Caribeans fair-trade production philosophy. 

On a personal note, knowing which communities are involved in organic production was what drew my attention to Paul's chocolate; eating chocolate became more of a cultural experience and I began to appreciate just how much work goes into making such a specialty product. 

Paul shared some other important observations, observations that would be impossible without establishing direct relationships with Indigenous cacao producers. 

As Paul mentioned, "Caribeans has noticed a couple of important things in the cacao and chocolate markets. First we have seen that many cacao producers do not know how to ferment or dry their beans and give away value when they sell the beans as wet raw fruit. As a result of learning this we have started to teach a few producers how to properly ferment and dry their beans and guarantee the best price to the growers if they use our recommendations. 

Another thing we have noticed is that most producers have never tasted chocolate made from their cacao. Because we keep their cacao separate from any other farms or areas, we are able to make chocolate from very narrow origins. This is treating chocolate much more like wine than candy. Tour guests can taste chocolate from several farms and experience the incredible range of flavors that only cacao and sugar produce."

Just as Paul observed in Costa Rica, West African farmers also reported to have never tasted chocolate made from their cacao.

Notice the Names of the Towns where your Chocolate Comes From (Ngöbe and Kachabri)

3) I tried two dark chocolate bars (Ngöbe and Kachabri) made by Caribeans and although they had the same ingredients their flavours were quite different. Was this just me? Or, like coffee beans, does the flavour of the chocolate bean change with location and cacao farming techniques?

Paul shared that many factors can affect the end flavor of chocolate, including 1) the cacao growing conditions, 2) the variety of the cacao plant, and 3) the cacao harvesting, fermenting, and drying methods. Paul explained that most of these factors play a role in cacao flavour before the chocolate-maker even gets to look at the beans.   

Interestingly, Paul mentioned that, "...since Caribeans makes chocolate right here in Costa Rica we can often influence the flavor of the chocolate earlier than our fellow chocolate makers in North America or Europe. We hope that through this close contact and the chocolate feedback, we will make some of the best chocolate ever made."

Lastly, I asked Paul if he eats only organic, fair-trade chocolate and if he would share any similar life choices. 

Paul laughed and told me that when it comes to chocolate, he almost only eats what he makes himself. He stressed that fair trade, direct trade, locally produced, and organic are all on his list of values before making a purchase. He explained that chocolate is one way he can make a difference and promote more ethical production and consumption in his area. 

Readers, please feel free to share your experiences with locally-sourced, organic, and/or fair-trade chocolate here on the blog; if you have any questions, please post them and I'll see if myself or Paul can get you an answer.

Thank you again to Paul. I invite you to learn more about Paul's chocolate-making on his site or with him in person at Caribeans!

Want to make sure the seafood you eat is sustainable but don’t know how to get the information you need to do so? You just have to remember two questions: "Where did the fish come from?" and "How was it harvested?"

I was recently inspired by a reader’s comment on a blog on sustainable fishing. This reader brought my attention to a Vancouver Chef, Rob Clark, who takes cooking sustainably seriously. If you are interested, you can hear him talk more about his philosophy at this link. I appreciated Rob’s tips on eating sustainably when dining out. First, Rob recommends carrying your portable SeaChoice Seafood Guide (or similar guide in your region) to determine which menu items are ocean-friendly. And, to make the best use of this guide, it is important to ask your server two simple questions: "Where did the fish come from?" and "How was it harvested?"

Simple enough in theory, but most of us may need a little encouraging to ask these questions when we are eating out with friends, on a date, or on a business lunch. So, what can we do to ensure that these questions become second nature? It helps to have chefs like Rob speaking out to remind us why the answers are important. The rest, I’m convinced, will come with a little practice. I still remember how long it took before I reliably remembered to separate garbage into recyclable units rather than throwing it all into the same bin. Twenty years ago, there were many people tossing their garbage directly onto the streets – how many of us would think about doing that now?

The more we repeat the two important questions in restaurants, at the supermarket, or even at the fishing dock, the more they will become part of our daily routines. It may also put a little more pressure on vendors to offer sustainable seafood options. In Rob’s questions, you could even replace the word “fish” with “chicken”, “eggs”, or the vegetable of your choice. In my experience, some vendors have an answer ready and others will be confused by your questions. Either way, in the process, you’ll quickly discover more about your food and food producers, and you will likely educate others along the way.

GM Alfalfa: Changing the Future of Dairy and Organic Farming?

With “World Food Day” approaching - October 16^th - I thought it was timely to bring up some of the more ‘global’ issues reaching our ‘local’ food systems.

Let’s explore what COWS, BEES, and MONSANTO have in common.

The answer is ALFALFA!

Alfalfa Plants (photo courtesy of www.myessentia.com)

Some may be thinking, so what? I don’t eat much alfalfa myself. But, if you eat chicken eggs, cheese, ice cream, or cows, you do eat alfalfa. Alfalfa is used as cow and chicken feed. In fact, it is the backbone of the dairy industry. Alfalfa also creates its own natural fertilizer. It captures nitrogen from the atmosphere and makes it available in the soil. This makes alfalfa a key resource for organic farmers who do not use chemical fertilizers.

Alfalfa Hay

The dairy industry, and organic farming in general, is about to change drastically with the proliferation of genetically modified alfalfa, aka GM alfalfa. GM alfalfa seed is the project of a multinational company, Monsanto. GM alfalfa was once banned in the USA, but courts have recently overturned this ban. GM alfalfa is not yet legal in Canada, but a quick Google search, or conversation with a Canadian farmer, will reveal that the pressure is on. 

We know the links between dairy, Monsanto and alfalfa, now where do bees fit in this equation?

Bees pollinate alfalfa. Once a GM bee-pollinated crop is let loose there is no turning back (recent history tells this story for GM canola). Bees go everywhere; therefore, so does the pollen they collect and exchange among distant plants. An exchange of pollen from a GM plant to a non-GM plant can result in the exchange of genetic material. Successful exchange of genes means that the seeds of a new plant generation in the non-GM fields may be genetically modified (aka “genetic contamination”). Because bee pollinated crops are at high risks of genetic contamination, even farmers who want to avoid these GM plants often can’t. For certified organic farmers, the introduction of GM alfalfa is particularly alarming.  As you may know, organic certification prohibits the use of genetically modified seeds. Therefore, farmers that rely on non-GM alfalfa can run the risk of losing their certification if they are found with GM plants in their farms.  

Organic Alfalfa Put To Use!

What is GM Alfalfa?

Like other Monsanto-modified seeds, such as soy or canola, GM alfalfa is genetically altered to be resistant to a broad-spectrum herbicide. This herbicide called “Roundup” – also produced by Monsanto - is marketed because of its chemical capacity to kill weeds. “Roundup Ready” crops can be sprayed with the herbicide Roundup to support industrial-scale crop production (on the short-term). Although GM crops are resistant to herbicides, components of such herbicides (e.g., glycophosphates) can affect other life forms, such as aquatic organisms, as well as soil system complexes. 

Canadian farmers I’ve spoken to see no reason for GM alfalfa. They also view Monsanto as the only beneficiary. First, this company will benefit because the use of their seeds goes hand in hand with the use of their Roundup chemicals. Second, Monsanto holds the patent, thus the legal rights to control the GM seeds (and the herbicide-resistant genes for that matter). Therefore, once crops become contaminated with GM genes, farmers are no longer owners of their crops. This prevents farmers from saving-seeds after harvests, and implies the need to purchase new seeds from companies each year. The implications of this cannot be overstated. For millennia farmers have saved and traded seed maintaining natural sources of diversity. In the words of Bartlett and Steele, “Monsanto has turned this ancient practice on its head.”

One farmer I spoke to sees a benefit in GM crops.  This Manitoban said that his “Certified Local Sustainable” bee farm is stuck in a sea of crop monocultures frequently sprayed with pesticides. In his opinion, GM crops have resulted in less frequent spraying of herbicides because GM crops have a high level of pest resistance. He said that less spraying has resulted in his bees picking up fewer chemicals. We ended our discussion on the note that more attention to GM crops is needed, especially because the human experience with GM crops is extremely limited.

This begs the question, why are we modifying crops in the first place? Or similarly, why are we growing so much of the same thing?

Being that there is strong political and economic support for seed modification, I am curious what support exists for those that explore alternatives to GM seeds. If you weren’t sure how to contribute on “World Food Day”, here is an issue we can talk about. If anyone has any GM crop-related comments, please feel free to post them here, or to e-mail me.

Also, in light of World Food Day, I hope to post a few short posts related to unique projects seeking alternatives to industrial food production. Any ideas? Send them my way!

Sources


Relyea, R. (2005). THE LETHAL IMPACT OF ROUNDUP ON AQUATIC AND TERRESTRIAL AMPHIBIANS Ecological Applications, 15 (4), 1118-1124 DOI: 10.1890/04-1291

Doublet, J., Mamy, L., & Barriuso, E. (2009). Delayed degradation in soil of foliar herbicides glyphosate and sulcotrione previously absorbed by plants: Consequences on herbicide fate and risk assessment Chemosphere, 77 (4), 582-589 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2009.06.044

How Would You Like Your Eggs?

Living in Winnipeg gives me the chance to connect with farmers who sell eggs from chickens that are organically fed, and free to roam. For all of us egg-eaters however, we’ve surely been in the position where we’ve had to choose between natural, vegetarian-fed, omega-3, free-range, free-run, or certified organic eggs, at the supermarket.  It’s just plain confusing if you ask me. In this blog, I hope to clarify what you get when you shop for eggs.

Thanks to the Vancouver’s Human Society, the “Chicken Out!” program has made egg shopping a little easier. Here is what this, and other sources have to say about egg-labels.

Free-run: Hens are free to run inside a barn, but lack outdoor access. However, this label is unregulated.

Free-range: This label suggests hens have “access” to the outdoors. But, this does not tell us how often or for what amount of time.  As Kelly Myers, an Oregon chef says, on an industrial scale this label is likely to mask the scenario of thousands of chickens found in a large shed with a small door (through which the chickens may or may not venture).

Cage-free: Hens are not confined in cages. This generally means thousands of hens are roaming around a barn floor.

Because Free-run, Free-range, and Cage-free labels are not certified, and thus unregulated, Chicken Out recommends visiting farms or checking references to be sure their practices live up to these standards.

Certified Organic: Of the labels, this is one of the best and it ensures the most space for hens. Hens can roam outdoors, they are provided with perches, nest boxes, and dust-bathing areas. Certification means farmers are inspected for animal welfare.

SPCA Certified or Certified Humane: These labels are sponsored by humane societies. Hens are free-range or free-run. Like Certified Organic, hens have perches, nest boxes, and dust-bathing areas. Farmers are audited for animal welfare.

Farm Fresh, Natural, Vegetarian-fed: These labels sound good, but they are unregulated and do not consider animal welfare. This means eggs come from hens raised in battery cages. Vegetarian-fed means no-animal by-products are used in the feed.

Omega-3: Omega-3 means a hen’s diet is supplemented with fish or flax omega-3 oils. One study looked for differences between oil content in certified-organic eggs versus omega-3 eggs, and found differences were negligible.  

Summary: Certified Organic and SPCA Certified/Certified Human, are the only regulated eggs which guarantee the best animal welfare as far as labeled eggs go. If you want to support Free-range or Free-run eggs, make sure to check their source because these are unregulated labels. Natural, Vegetarian-fed, and Omega-3 eggs, among others, do not account for animal welfare and are from battery-caged hens. For more specific information about farming practices and animal welfare standards click here. 

If you want to be safe, contact the egg farmers. This can even be done in urban areas where chicken farming is becoming more popular. Remember, bigger is not always better. My experience both in North America, and in Costa Rica, with very free-roaming chickens has opened my eyes to what happy, healthy chickens' eggs look like. Although egg size may vary with chicken breed, I bet you can guess which eggs in the picture below are from factory-farmed hens, and which are from the free-running, healthy eating kind.

One way to get around deciphering labels is to raise your own chickens! For the rest of us with chicken-free homes, here is a helpful guide to help with your informed egg-eating choices.

Other Sources:

A friend of mine has recommended the booked “Eating Animals” by Johnathan Safran Foer, for a more in depth discussion on this topic. 

No Farms No Foods: Is Organic Farming Always Sustainable?

The more we learn about what our foods go through to be bigger, better and stay fresh, the more convincing it is for us to buy organic. However, due to high social and economic costs, organic certification is not always a viable option for small-scale farmers. In this blog I want to address a popular question, how do we support local farmers and still make healthy and environmentally conscious decisions?

To do so, I would like to introduce you to a family of pecan farmers who are health and environmentally conscious, but not certified organic.

I first met George and Becky this summer at the Auburn, Alabama Farmers Market. What caught my eye was their pecan honey granola. Before taking some home, I inquired if their products were organic. Here is what they told me:

“We prefer to use the word sustainable…”, George kindly explained. He added that they don’t feel that there is anything wrong with organic farming, but the costs of starting and keeping a certified organic farm are steep; these costs are often unrealistic for small-scale farmers. Instead, George and Becky explained to me, the sustainable farming practices they follow allow farmers to make a living while being as environmentally sound and as healthy as possible. Let me give you an example.

www.samswildbees.com

Becky and George started with a pecan farm. They did not want to use chemical fertilizers to keep the soil rich for their pecan trees, so they came up with a sustainable solution, planting clovers! Clovers provide nitrogen to the soil; therefore these plants serve as a natural fertilizer (the biology of this is a little more complicated). But the story does not end there. Clovers do not grow without pollination. To use clovers as fertilizers, Becky and George decided they would need a healthy population of bees. Conveniently, Ben, the head of the local beekeepers association, was able to help them start a small beekeeping operation. Now, not only do they have a fertilizer-free pecan harvest, but honey as well. 

The story is more complicated still. Wild grasses often take over in fields, meaning clovers have trouble growing alongside them. The easy way to get rid orchards of grasses is to use a weed killer. Instead, Becky and George looked for a sustainable solution. This time it was cows, which roam through their orchard while foraging (and cleaning up) the wild grasses. Since these farmers do not spray with pesticides, they also produce pesticide-free, grass-fed beef.  I’ll stop here because Becky and George’s story goes on, but, in a nutshell, this is what they meant by sustainable farming.

After hearing this story, I asked, if you are so careful to practice environmentally sound farming, why don’t you advertise as organic?

C. Leopold (Flickr)

George explained to me that although they do their best to be sustainable, there are still many challenges for farmers. For pecan farmers it is the “pecan scab”. Pecan scab is a hard-to-control fungus that attacks pecan trees with the potential to decimate entire pecan harvests. For now, these farmers spray pecan trees once a year to protect trees from this pest. If these farmers were to become organically certified, they would be required to have a pesticide-free farm for minimum three years (among other hurdles). Because there is no effective organic control of pecan scab, trying to go ‘organic’ may mean drastic losses on their orchard and drastic losses means big hits to their income.

Although Becky and George would like to eliminate all use of pesticides one day, for now they are satisfied with sustainable small-scale farming. As Becky told me, sustainable cannot only be defined in relation to the environment, there has to be something in it for farmers too. If not, there is little motivation to continue these practices.

Although I talk about pecan farming here, this story is not unique to George and Becky. After speaking with many farmers on this topic, I’m encouraged to look a little further past a label in order to best support innovative and sustainable farming practices.

Certified organic is an excellent choice when we are trying to reduce the amount of chemicals in the environment. But, there are many benefits to buying local as well, including supporting small-scale farmers engaging in environmentally-sustainable practices. As always, the best way to find out more about the food you eat is by talking to the people who grew it.

A great way to meet them is by purchasing your vegetables at farmers markets or through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) networks. Here are a couple links that allow you to search for farmers markets near you in Canada or in the U.S.A. 

For more information on the health and environmental effects of pesticides: 

DAVID PIMENTEL (2005). ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC COSTS OF THE APPLICATION OF PESTICIDES PRIMARILY IN THE UNITED STATES Environment, Development and Sustainability, 7, 229-252

The Scoop On North America’s Leading Coffee Brands

Recently I was asked about some of the leading brands of coffees available in North American markets.  Two questions in particular were raised:

1)  Do these brands fit the ‘sustainable’ mold?

And

2)  If a large company claims to use Fair Trade beans, what does that mean? And, how can you distinguish this coffee from all of their other products?

In my first coffee blog, I provided the basics on sustainability labels.  The motivations behind our interest in these labels may vary. Some of us may prefer to support environmentally or socially ethical certifications or both.  Some may choose to buy coffee with no certifications in hopes of supporting local and smaller disadvantaged farmers, while others may take it one step further and eliminate coffee entirely from their routines because there are no ‘locally grown’ options where they live.  Although diverse coffee choices do exist if we look hard enough, the majority of coffee available to us is industrially produced with no certifications related to environmental or social farming conditions.   

To my knowledge, there are few certified sustainability standards associated with coffee sold by the four multinational companies dominating the North American coffee markets (click here for a critique on ‘when birders* drink Folgers’).  

Multinational corporations are experts in driving market prices down. This means ecologically and socially sustainable farming practices are not a likely a priority when large corporations purchase coffee beans.  The only way these companies can make the profits they seek is by purchasing coffee at low prices. And if the cost of coffee is low, this generally means that minimum effort is put into maintaining a high quality product and environmental standards are not a high-priority (Frontline provides a good background on the 'coffee crisis').  When world coffee prices plummet, farmers globally may suffer wage cuts, driving them to abandon their coffee plants and replace them with economically viable crops (e.g., such as the environmentally unfriendly sugarcane). I know many former coffee farmers in Costa Rica who have switched crops because they could no longer make a living producing high quality shade-grown coffee. By not paying attention to the products we buy, we may be unwittingly playing a part in this race for low prices. As a consequence, we neglect important issues, such as maintaining coffee farmers’ livelihoods or supporting environmentally friendly farming.

Back to the original questions. At least one of the major coffee brands produces a Fair Trade certified coffee. One of the benefits of Fair Trade is that it guarantees farmers are paid a minimum price for their coffee. This price, to some degree, is independent from market fluctuations. 

To answer the second question, if coffee is 100% certified as Fair Trade, it will be labeled on the package.  Commonly, you will find the logo (on the right) but different companies produce different labels depending on the product and the region of the world.  Because large companies may produce many different brands of coffee with varying certifications (if any), if you are looking for Fair Trade, makes sure the label says so.

My Two Cents:

Even if large companies produce one or a few Fair Trade products, in my opinion purchasing these ‘popular’ coffee brands is still supporting the practices of multinational market-driven corporations.  These same corporations are instrumental in creating social inequities that Fair Trade and other socially conscious choices attempt to counteract.  So, if you are set on drinking these major coffee brands then the best choice would be a Fair Trade option. However, there are other options out there. I have previously suggested a couple found in my neck of the woods. At first it may seem like a lot of work for us to weed through coffee aisles or shops in our quest to make socially and environmentally conscious choices.  However, as we do so we become better informed about how our eating choices influence the environment that we, and especially coffee farmers, depend upon.

For more information on coffee giants check out:

Black Gold, http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blackgold/beans.html

Sources:

Bacon, C. 2005. Confronting the coffee crisis: can fair trade, organic, and specialty coffees reduce small-scale farmer vulnerability in northern Nicaragua. World Development 33(3): 497-511. 


Coffee photo courtesy of David Minor.

Fair Trade, Organic, and Shade-Grown Coffee: What Do They All Mean?

For those of you who know how good Costa Rican coffee can be, it will be no surprise that upon moving to Costa Rica, ‘hora de café’ became an irreplaceable part of my everyday routine. Before this, I was not a coffee drinker and had no idea of how many choices I faced when trying to find the ‘right’ cup of coffee. Fortunately my fieldwork within rural Costa Rica allowed me to visit a few farms and ask around for myself. 

So, what does it mean to drink a cup of Fair Trade, organic, or shade-grown coffee?

The answers to these questions inevitably vary from place to place and may depend on whom you ask. In this post, my goal is to elaborate on some of the basic facts about what these labels mean for consumers, farmers, and environments alike in the context of my experience in Costa Rica.

The Basics:

Certified Organic Coffee

Organic certification regulations vary from region to region.  Attention to the wording (“certified organic” versus “organic”) will help you look up the specific regulations for your country. Generally speaking, organic coffee certification means farmers do not use synthetic chemicals (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides) or genetically modified organisms (GMOs). To become certified as an organic farm, a farmer must maintain cropland chemical free for a number of years (often three or more). Also, routine inspections by independent third parties are continually required.

Although the idea of buying organic is increasingly popular among consumers, it is a market that few small-scale coffee farmers manage to enter. It costs money for a conventional farm to transition to one that is certified as organic. Often small-scale coffee farmers do not have the resources to forego profits for an extended period of time to make this transition. Furthermore, third party inspections can cost from $300 to $500 per day, plus the transportation costs of bringing an inspector to a farm.

           

Shade-Grown Coffee

Coffee plants (on the right) are mid-size shrubs that are found to produce superior quality beans when grown in the shade. This is because shade beans take longer to ripen and this processes contributes to more complex coffee flavours. Shade is also an added bonus for anyone who is picking coffee beans, done by hand on small-scale farms.  Because coffee farmers are only paid for their ripe fruits, picking the right beans takes skill and potentially many hours under the hot sun. 

Certification as ‘shade-grown’ also appeals to consumers for environmental reasons. Shade-grown farming is often considered better at maintaining increased biodiversity, as compared to industrial agriculture. Since coffee plants are small understory shrubs, they can be intercropped with diverse tropical flora or other cultivated plant species. This diversity may range from ‘native’ tropical trees (often from the bean family) or other foods such as sugar cane.

As you can see, different strategies of intercropping with shade trees can produce very different outcomes, and all shade is not equal! On one extreme you may find coffee in a diverse forested landscape. Coffee would then be part of a multi-cropping production system and may be shaded with many native forest plants, providing from 70 to 100% shade.  The other extreme is found in 'shaded monocultures'. There you would find dense rows of coffee plants interspersed with one or two species of shade trees providing approximately 10-30% shade.  Therefore, unless the term shade-grown is accompanied by a more detailed description, you can’t be sure you are not buying coffee from only a slightly-shaded monoculture.

There are also many specialty certifications, such as 'Bird-Friendly', that aim to support farms with more than just ‘shade’. These certifications require shade-grown coffee to be located along with at least 10 other woody plant species (to ensure greater diversity) and they require some form of organic standards.

Fair Trade Coffee

Fair Trade coffee differs from the above two options because it emerged as part of a shift in thinking towards more socially conscious consumption (‘trade not aid’). Fair Trade certification maintains the strongest social justice standards within major coffee certification strategies while supporting environmentally sustainable agriculture. Fair Trade certification means coffee production must be small–scale, the trade benefits must be shared among farmers, and pesticides and GMOs are banned. Fair Trade attempts to build alternative trade networks that promote safe working conditions, guarantee a payment of minimum prices, provide premiums for social and environmental development (including support for organic and shade-grown initiatives), and support long-term trading relationships.

Does Fair Trade guarantee coffee is shade-grown or organic?

No.  However, many Fair Trade coffees are accompanied by organic as well as other specialty certifications, such as shade-grown or bird-friendly (e.g., Kicking Horse Coffee, Higher Ground Coffee).  It is important to remember that many small-scale coffee growers face significant challenges when attempting to transform their farms to meet strict organic or specialty certification standards. One of the benefits of Fair Trade is that it can provide an opportunity for small-scale or marginalized farmers to enter alternative markets. For example, Fair Trade farmers are guaranteed ‘development premiums’, or support dedicated to locally relevant social or environmental programs. This support can be used in the transition to more environmentally conscious farming practices.

Summary:

Are these the only options for the conscious consumer?

No.  Many coffee roasters feel these certification systems lack transparency as well as perpetuate social inequalities (marginalizing many small independent farmers). These baristas prefer to establish personal relationships with coffee growers who may maintain crops that would qualify as organic and/or shade-grown but who chose not to enter into global certification markets. These options may not be advertised at your local coffee shop and will require asking a few questions about who grows the coffee and how it is produced. Upon putting this blog together, I took my own advice. On a recent trip to Athens, Georgia, I was surprised to find that the first coffee shop I entered was well-informed about these challenges. The barista told me that they sell coffee from one small farm in Antioquia, Colombia. This choice was intended to support those farmers with limited ability to enter the third party certification markets.

I hope this provides an overview of what our choices mean when supporting different coffee producers and companies alike. I’d be happy to receive any other suggestions related to socially and environmentally conscious coffee choices.

Sources:

Valkila J. and N. Nygren. 2010. Impacts of fair trade certification on coffee farmers, cooperatives, and laborers in Nicaragua. Agriculture and Human Values 27: 321-333.

Raynolds, L. T. 2000. Re-embedding global agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values 17: 297-309.