Coffee production is under siege. External pressures such as climate change and volatile organic prices combine with internal forces such as bad actors deforesting land to grow coffee, creating an uncertain future. This has led many producers to seek sustainable practices such as regenerative agriculture and a shift away from monoculture crops.
While information about these ecologically oriented practices is bountiful, in the past it has been scattered across multiple sources, making it challenging to access, especially for those who could put the knowledge into practice. Therefore, non-profit Coffee watch joined forces with Center for Research in Tropical Agriculture and Higher Education (Tropical Center for Agronomic Research and Higher Education, CATIE) to be established Coffee agroforestry electronic library. The completely free Coffee Agroforestry e-library is “the world’s first comprehensive online database dedicated to the scientific literature on shade-grown coffee.”
Agroforestry involves the introduction of multiple crops (as opposed to single crops) as well as the integration of shade trees to create greater biodiversity on a coffee farm. The positive impacts of agroforestry are many, including increasing resilience to climate change, sequestering more carbon before it enters the atmosphere, and creating additional revenue streams for producers.
Hosted on SoAgroforestry’s e-library contains nearly 1,300 articles providing science-based evidence and best practices for implementing shade coffee at the farm level. Articles are available in English and Spanish and can be divided by geographic region. Topics include: climate change adaptation and carbon sequestration in coffee systems, biodiversity benefits of shade-grown coffee, diversifying farmer incomes and food security through agroforestry, soil health, water conservation and soil moisture, as well as policy frameworks and certification approaches to support agroforestry.
“By sharing the science, we can accelerate the transition to coffee landscapes that are shade-grown, climate-resilient and farmer-centric,” says Coffee Watch director Etelle Higonnet in press release.
The future of coffee production will require a global effort, and the e-library provides a fresh level of access for farmers who want to grow coffee in a more sustainable way. This is a very massive and much needed first step. More information can be found on Coffee Watch’s website official website.
