IS YOUR COFFEE MADE IN THE SHADE?

PEOPLE & COFFEE

• Around the world people enjoy drinking coffee
• In fact 54% of adults in the U.S. drink coffee everyday.
• Worldwide, people buy around 16.9 billion lbs. of coffee beans each year.

ORIGINS

• Coffee beans come from several species of shrubs that historically grew in tropical rainforests of Ethiopia.
• It natuarlly grows under the shade of the tropical rainforest canopy.
• However, in the fiftennth century coffee was brought to the Middle East and eventually spread throughout the world.
• This popularity led to the farming of coffee in many palces around the world including SA, Africa, & SE Asia.

WHERE IT WENT WRONG

• As farmers began cultivating coffee, they treated it like other crops
• They cleared large areas of rainforest and planted coffee bushes
• ...close together in large open fields.
• Because the coffee beans natural habitat was a large shady forest
• ... farmers found they needed to buld shadee over the plants to prevent

CONT.

• ... them from becoming sunburnt in the intense tropical sunlight.
• Breeders decided to develop sunlight-tolerant plants as a response.
• These new varieties not only could handle intense sunlight,
• ...but also produce many more coffee beans per plant.

CONT.

• Coffee became a plant that had been naturally scattered
• ...throughout a diverse rainforest to one that was grown as a single
• ...species in large numbers in open fields

FINDING SOLUTIONS

• Some farmers thought it best to return to growing coffee under
• ...more natural conditions
• Such coffee called shade-grown coffee is grown in three ways:
• Planting the bushes in an intact rainforest, planting the the bushes in a
• ...a rainforest that has some trees removed, or planting the bushes in a

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• ...field alongside trees that produce other marketable products, such as fruit
• Coffee bushes grown in this way attract fewer pests, so less money is
• ...is needed to buy and apply pesticides
• There's less risk to workers and the nearby soil and water.
• These methods allow coffee to be grown while preserving some of the

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• ...plant diversity of the rainforest
• The coffee also tastes better

THE TRADE OFF

• These more diverse and natural landscapes however produce a less
• ...dense coffee, meaning about one-third as much coffee is produced
• ...per hectare.
• Cost savings ----------> lower yield... Owners of shade grown coffee, therefore,
• ... Need to charge higher prices to match the profits of other farms.

THE GREEN SOLUTION

• A number of environmental groups that want to preserve biodiversity in
• ...in rainforests stepped in to help.
• Researchers found that shade-grown coffee farms provide habitat for around
• ...150 species of rainforest birds as opposed to 20-50 in open coffee fields
• In response to these findings the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center created

CONT.

• ...a program to offer a"Bird Friendly" seal of approval to those producing
• ...shade-grown coffee.
• Combined with an advertising campaign that talked about the positive effect
• ...of shade-grown coffee on biodiversity, the seal of approval alerted
• ...consumers to consciously recognize the impact their favorite drink was

CONT.

• ...having on rainforests.
• Perhaps the greatest impact occurred whe Starbucks received a seal of
• ...approval from Consevation International.
• Over the past 10 years it's become clear that when the consumer is informed
• ...on how the coffee is grown, they're willing to choose the shade-grown.

2 RESPONSE QUESTIONS

• Would you or do you buy shade-grown coffee despite higher costs?
• Can you think of any additional benefits growing coffee more naturally in
• ...shade and in more native locations may bring for the locals?