Caffeine

History and Benefits of Shade Grown Coffee

Early History of Shade Grown Coffee

Coffee was first domesticated in Ethiopia. Its wild ancestors were small understory species, which grew as the bottom tier of a four-tiered tropical highland forest. Even when domesticated, coffee shrubs required ample shade: the temperature fluctuations of direct sunlight weakened the shrubs and made them more susceptible to disease.

"Sipping a cup of coffee is a ritual that is played out millions of times a day throughout the world. It is an act that ties together consumer, retailer, roaster, broker, producer and farm laborer in complex relationships about which we rarely ponder. But the connections are deeper than mere commerce."

Russell Greenberg, Director, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center

Most Western Hemisphere coffee was descended from a Javanese seedling brought to the Caribbean in 1721. This seedling was a descendent from the Coffee shrubs in the forests of Ethiopia. In Latin America, farmers were able to successfully duplicate the three and four tiered forest habitat as they found climactic conditions along the equator almost identical to those in Africa.

This habitat is a complex marriage of biodiversity: abundant flora and fauna support one another in their quest for survival. The shade canopy serves as shelter for hundreds of species of migratory songbirds, the rich insect life, providing fuel for the continuance of avian migration.

Recent History of Shade Grown Coffee

The canopy provides the necessary moisture and filtered light for growing, not only coffee but other crops as well. Bananas, cocoa, mangos, vegetables, timber woods for fuel, to name a few, serve to sustain the lives of the local population.

However, in 1970 windborne spores of African coffee rust landed in Brazil and began to spread north, triggering panic in the Latin American coffee industry. Coffee producers went to the dwindling forests of southwestern Ethiopia, coffee's evolutionary home, and found wild varieties resistant to 27 of 33 known types of la roya (the rust). They returned to South America and crossbred commercial and wild strains.

Governments also reacted to la roya by "technifying" coffee farms, removing shade trees, introducing new varieties, and boosting chemical use. Ironically, la roya has not spread as feared, probably because the cool temperatures and the dry season in most Latin American highlands limit its growth.

This technifying of coffee producing regions has had a tremendous impact on the rainforest canopy and the lives of the people who live there. Traditionally, because coffee is a seasonal crop, farmers were able to grow other crops, under the canopy, to assist them in their survival during non-coffee crop season.

Benefits of Shade Grown Coffee

Traditional, shade, coffee farms often produce more than coffee. It is common among small farms for the household to extract useful products like firewood, construction materials, fence posts, and fruits from the holding, in addition to the coffee harvested each year. As peasant producers living precarious livelihoods year to year, such "non-coffee" products provide the family with items that can be used directly or traded locally for cash or other needed products.

Income from selective timber harvest derived from shade trees can be substantial. In studies based on Costa Rican practices, timber stands of Cordia alliodora, used as shade in densities of 120-290 trees per hectare, can produce a sustainable output of 6-15 cubic meters per hectare per year of commercial wood. Timber output such as this can help provide income security for small farmers; for instance, timber harvests from shaded cacao plantations saw Costa Rica producers through several years of tough financial times in the early 1980s, when plant disease decimated cacao production.

When coffee plantations are "technified" various situations arise which has brought about the term, "the darker side of coffee." Biodiversity suffers greatly on the new-style of modernized coffee estates. It was found that 94% fewer bird species inhabit the sun-grown plantations as opposed to the traditional or shade plantations. Studies show that the recent sharp declines in the number of migratory birds is at least partially attributable to the replacement of shade-coffee with sun-coffee. In Colombia, 70% of the coffee-growing area is now "technified"; in Costa Rica, 40%; in Mexico, 17%. Sun-grown coffee depends on the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Farm workers are often not instructed in the proper and safe ways to use these chemicals and the methods to protect themselves. As a result, there has been a sharp rise in water poisonings through contamination of ground water and the aquifers by chemicals such as chlordane, a highly toxic insecticide that persists for years in the environment, (banned in the U.S.) In one documented case in 1987, more than 200 people became sick from drinking water contaminated with agricultural pesticides and fertilizers in the western Mexican state of Jalisco.

A recent World Resources Institute (WRI) report documented extensive human exposure to pesticides in Latin America and elsewhere in the developing world; for example, studies of farm workers and their families in Nicaragua have revealed significant decreases in the activity of cholinesterase, an enzyme vital for normal neuro-muscular functioning. The WRI report notes that "inadequate safety and hygiene practices are the norm" in developing country pesticide use.

The highly toxic insecticide, endosulfan, has contributed to more than 100 human poisonings and one death in 1993; more than 100 poisonings and three deaths in 1994. Even though the Colombian health ministry took steps to ban endosulfan use in January 1995, concerns continue to be raised that this move has not been implemented fully. Increased nitrogen fertilizer applications have gone hand and hand with the widespread removal of shade cover from Central American coffee plantations. In high concentrations, nitrates can cause infant methemoglobinemia ("blue-baby syndrome") a potentially fatal condition that impedes oxygen transport in infants' bloodstream. Other human health concerns surrounding nitrate contamination of groundwater include suspected links between nitrates and certain cancers, birth defects, hypertension, and developmental problems in children.

It is interesting to note that one of the main contributors to the use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers in Latin America is US AID, which has provided approximately $80 million to abet the efforts. Chemicals, which are banned in the United States, are sold by the tons, to Latin American producers for sun-grown coffee crops.

There are far-reaching social justice issues connected to sipping that cup of coffee. The relationship between consumer, retailer, roaster, broker, producer and farm laborer is far more complex than at first glance. AND, it is time to ponder those relationships.

In response, a number of non-profit organizations, including Oxfam and Equal Exchange, have tried to promote direct trade with cooperatives of small farms using traditional methods, thereby cutting out the middleman, the large producers. This means that the farm workers are now able to earn a just wage. Labor laws have been enacted in these cooperatives to disallow children from working in the fields. Women, who traditionally "helped" their husbands for no wages can now enjoy equal pay.

Organically Grown Shade Grown Coffee

De facto, shade grown coffee is raised "organically" since the habitat itself precludes the use of fertilizers and pesticides. Additionally, small farms and cooperatives cannot afford the cost of these chemicals. Organic coffee growers are typically organized into local cooperatives that are affiliated with, and bound by the standards of, international certification programs.

The largest of such programs is Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA), which as of late 1995 claimed more than one million certified hectares (2.5 million acres) and 30,000 grower-members worldwide. Sound environmental stewardship is a central tenet of the organic agricultural movement. Soil building practices (which often help reduce the waste stream pollutants of water supplies) are key OCIA requirements for certified organic farms. The OCIA standards permit certification only of fields or farms where no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers have been applied during the preceding three years.

Other organizations have been instrumental in setting up schools and health clinics, on site, for the farm workers and their families. Other organizations, such as FINCA, have set up village banking systems which enables farmworkers families, especially women, to finance "micro-businesses" which brings about more sustainability to their communities.

When concerned coffee drinkers find out about the impact that coffee technification is having on the environment, they often want to know where they can buy coffee produced in a sustainable manner. The time is right to bring growers, farm workers, importers, roasters and consumers together to develop a truly sustainable coffee for the marketplace.The key to this is increased communication and awareness.

Sources:

Alan Durning, Ecological Wakes; Jon Thorn, The Coffee Companion; Claudia Roden, Coffee: A Connoisseur's Companion; Robert A. Rice, "Sun versus Shade Coffee: Trends and Consequences;" Russell Greenberg and Martha Van der Voort, "Why Migratory Birds Are Crazy for Coffee;" the Berkeley Wellness Letter, Dec 1995; interviews and reports from Oxfam, America and Equal Exchange; and "Frequently Asked Questions About Coffee and Caffeine."; John Sterling, Notes from the First Sustainable Coffee Congress; John C. Ryan and Alan Thein Durning, "Stuff: The Secret Life of Everyday Things."

Taken from Ecology News

Coffee Time Line

5th~13th Coffee was prepared in a manner similar to century   wine. It was not used as a hot beverage.

15th The coffee trade was restricted to the Yemen century   district of Arabia and was jealously guarded.

16th Plant cuttings were smuggled from Yemen and century   the cultivation of coffee crops spread to Egypt, Syria, and Turkey. Coffee houses began to open in every major city in the Middle East.

1615    The first shipment of coffee arrived in Venice from Turkey.

1683    Coffee reached Vienna. Shortly thereafter the first Viennese coffee house opened.

1773    American colonies revolted against high taxes placed on tea drinking by King George. "The Boston Tea Party" changed drinking habits and coffee became the favorite brew.

1800    Coffee was a major export crop and plantations extended from the Eastern to the Western hemispheres.

1962    The first International Coffee Agreement was held in New York. Coffee supplies were balanced and prices fairly regulated.