Suzuki spills the beans on ethical coffee

Shady practices are good for coffee growers and consumers

COFFEE IS THE second most traded commodity in the world, after oil. As with oil, the massive scale of production necessary to meet our insatiable demand for coffee results in an enormous ecological footprint.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, more than seven million tonnes of coffee will be produced worldwide this year.

With so many people drinking coffee (63 per cent of Canadians drink it daily, on average 2.6 cups per day), growers have industrialized production to meet demand. Coffee producers have done this by establishing highyield monoculture plantations, spraying toxic pesticides to control unwanted insects and plant pathogens, and even developing genetically modified varieties that allow traditionally shade-grown coffee, like arabica, to be grown under more economically productive conditions in sunlight.

These industrial agricultural practices have proven successful in ensuring a steady supply of beans to world markets, but the environmental costs associated with much of the coffee consumed worldwide is too high.

Most coffee sold in Canada is grown in open plantations on land that was once tropical or subtropical forest.

Since the early 1970s, huge swaths of natural rain forest have been cleared in coffeeproducing nations, as the industry has shifted from traditional shade production to “sun-grown”.

According to Bridget Stutchbury, an internationally renowned bird expert who has studied the impacts of coffee production on neotropical birds, “Sun coffee is not a self-sufficient ecosystem — it can only be grown with large amounts of fertilizer, fungicides, herbicides and pesticides. There are no trees to shade the coffee plants and soil from the downpours of tropical rains; soil erosion and leaching is a big problem in sun coffee farms.”

Although it won’t replace natural forests, growing coffee in shade using agro-ecosystem techniques provides extensive understory and canopy cover from a diversity of tropical trees, providing a refuge for wildlife.

Studies have shown that shade coffee plantations can provide habitat approaching natural conditions.

As with food labelled organic or Fair Trade, consumers need a credible certification system to guarantee that their cup of coffee has been produced in a way that doesn’t harm wildlife habitat.

 

Article exclusive to STREETS OF TORONTO