Coffee and the environment

Changes in how coffee plants are grown have resulted in effects on the environment. Recently, coffee companies have begun to acknowledge the United States' love of specialized coffee, as well as Americans' concern for the environment. Companies like Eco Organic Coffee ("Coffee with a conscience", 1997) and Starbucks have begun publicize the growth of the coffee beans they purchase.
Coffee companies and the environment
While coffee companies have typically focused primarily on profit, some coffee companies are now placing greater emphasis on the environmental and social costs associated with coffee production, processing and trade.
Shade-grown coffee farms
Traditionally coffee plants were grown under the shade of trees, which provided natural habitat for many animals and insects, roughly approximating the biodiversity of a natural forest . The trees provided a moderate climate for the plants, and leaves that dropped from the shade trees enriched the soil. Farmers also used compost coffee pulp before chemical fertilizers were available. They typically rotated crops and cultivated food alongside their cash crops, which provided additional income and food security.
In understanding the benefits of this shade-grown coffee, it is first necessary to understand its many types. Rustic farms are typically small, family farms, with little alternation to the original forests. There is typically 70 to 100 percent shade cover. Traditional polyculture includes a mixture of the native trees and planted trees with 60 to 90 percent shade cover. Commercial polyculture, with 30 to 60 percent shade covering, has even more trees removed to increase the number of coffee plants. Finally, shaded monoculture includes dense plantings of coffee beneath merely 10 to 30 percent of shade covering. While rustic farms are the most natural, each of these shade farms is more environmentally friendly than the typical sun farm, which provides nearly no shade covering at all ("What is shade," 2007). With regards to work conditions, the shade helps farmers to avoid the high temperatures and humidity. Additionally, shade farms help to harbor diversity, prevent soil erosion, isolate carbon, and even save forests (Blackman, Avalos-Sartorio, & Chow, 2007).
Along with the other multitudinous benefits of shade farms, if the destruction of forests can be prevented, many organisms will be able to turn coffee trees into their humble homes, where they can both live and reproduce. Coffee trees provide a home for a variety of types of birds. In a study done on bird populations found in Central Guatemala, multiple shade and sun-grown coffee farms were studied to determine the species of birds present in different habitats. It was concluded that shade-farms provide a habitat for woodland residents and migrants that sun-farms are not capable of making available. More species of birds have a tendency to migrate towards the diversely planted canopy trees, since the multitude of types resembled the many trees in their natural forest habitat ("Coffee with a conscience", 1997). "The loss of the shade trees on such a large scale…caused an estimated 20% decline in migratory bird populations in the last ten years, due to habitat loss" ("Shade Grown Coffee," 2008). Shade-grown coffee plantation habitats are necessary for the survival of many birds restricted to forest habitats, especially as the international destruction of natural forests increases. For instance, redstarts, black-throated green warblers, yellow-throated, and solitary vireos depend on shade-grown coffee farms ("Migrants and Coffee," 2008).
Sun-grown coffee farms
However, in the 1970s and 1980s, during the "Green Revolution," the US Agency for International Development and other groups gave $80 million to plantations in Latin America for advancements to go along with the general shift to technified agriculture. These plantations replaced their shade grown techniques with sun cultivation techniques to increase yields, which in turn destroyed vast forests and biodiversity. In addition, the decline of coffee prices and the expansion of cities caused many farms in Central America to be destroyed and replaced by urban buildings and conventional farming. In this region, less than 20 percent of the country's forests still remain. This causes a loss of organisms and many cases of soil erosion. Sun cultivation involves cutting down trees, and high inputs of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Environmental problems, such as deforestation, pesticide pollution, habitat destruction, soil and water degradation, are the effects of most modern coffee farms, and the biodiversity on the coffee farm and in the surrounding areas suffer. According to "Coffee with a conscience," in the past 20 years, "30 to 40 percent of the plantations in northern Latin America alone have been converted to sun farms" (1997, p. 51). Unless problems regarding farm investment and yields, debt, poverty, urbanization, migration, and weak land use regulations can be addressed, shade-farms will soon cease to exist, along with the socially responsible coffee that they so generously produce (Blackman, Avalos-Sartorio, & Chow, 2007).
While many Americans are aware of the fact that certain coffee products impact the environment in more positive ways than others, many are unaware of the detrimental effects of sun-grown coffee on the environment. Sun-grown coffee farms require fertilizers, pesticides, and other harmful chemicals to protect the coffee beans from the sun's brutal rays (Anonymous, 2008). The combination of these substances has harmed the air, the water, and the habitats of many birds ("Coffee with a conscience", 1997, p. 51). In addition, the lack of underbrush has caused an erosion of hills, hence the destruction of many species' habitats (Anonymous, 2008). Prior to 1972, sun farms were not in existence. However, as is classic of America, someone found a way to increase the production of a crop that was found to be highly valuable. Coffee beans became smaller and easier to harvest. Unfortunately, these new beans had to be grown in direct sunlight. Along with this new trend, came the devastating effects of sun farms on the environment and its species ("Shade Grown Coffee," 2008). While the American government knows the effects of sun-farms, they seem incredibly preoccupied with the speed with which they produce coffee, as opposed to the results. For instance, the United States government handed over $80 million to Latin America to update their coffee growing practices with pesticides and fertilizers (Hudson and Hudson, 2004). It seems apparent that something must be done about these sun farms to prevent their devastating effects on the depleting environment. The solution is simple: the use of shade-grown coffee plantations.
Water: another coffee issue
Another issue concerning coffee is its use of water. According to New Scientist, it takes about 140 litres of water to produce one cup of coffee, and the coffee is often grown in countries where there is a water shortage, like Ethiopia.
Conclusion
According to Mark and Ian Hudson, "A recent study by the Guatemalan Commission for the Verification of Corporate Codes of Conduct found half the workers on fincas in that country earning less than $3 per day for picking 100 pounds of coffee" (2004, p. 13). Therefore, the "fair-trade" option was developed to give $1.26 or more per pound of coffee to the workers. This does not seem like a great deal of money, but it is a start in helping the workers in Central America provide for themselves and for their families. Since shade-grown coffee requires more human-labor than sun-grown, America is saving the environmentally friendly coffee in using free-trade to take care of the workers, thus continuing shade-grown coffee production (Hudson & Hudson, 2004).There has been a return to both traditional and new methods of growing shade-tolerant varieties. Shade-grown coffee can often earn a premium as a more environmentally sustainable alternative to mainstream sun-grown coffee. After all, coffee is not only considered a necessity in the life of many Americans, but "is the world's second most valuable market commodity after petroleum" (Hudson & Hudson, 2004, p. 13). Since the United States is responsible for the purchase of 25% of the coffee beans found in the local market, it seems that they should also be responsible for how their imported product is affecting the ever-changing environment (Hudson & Hudson, 2004). In order to do this, it is first necessary to look at the positive and negative effects of differing types of coffee growth, as well as ways to continue the growth of environmentally friendly coffee beans.

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