What is Shade-grown Coffee?
Where Does Coffee Come From?
How Does Coffee Grow? An Introduction to the Sun versus Shade Debate
Differences between Shade And Sun - They Start in the Forest and End in Your Cup
Different Shades of Shade
Biodiversity - Why is Forest Structure Important?
What is Shade-grown Coffee?
"Shade-grown" coffee is grown under a canopy of diverse species of shade trees, often on small farms using traditional techniques. Among the many benefits of using shade-grown coffee production methods, in contrast to sun-grown coffee, are that it provides food and shelter for songbirds, as well as habitat for numerous other species of animals and plants. [back to top]
Where Does Coffee Come From?
Coffee originated in Africa. According to a legend, coffee was discovered when an Abyssinian goatherd observed that his goats danced happily after eating the bright red coffee berries and he decided to try them himself. From Africa, coffee spread to the Middle East, then to Europe, and was successfully introduced to Latin America in the 18th century. Today, the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean produce two-thirds of the world's coffee. [back to top]
How Does Coffee Grow? An Introduction to the Sun versus Shade Debate
When coffee arrived in the New World, it was cultivated in the shade of native forest trees; as cacao had been grown for centuries. This is the way coffee plants were grown for almost two hundred years.
The original varieties of coffee brought to the New World are relatively intolerant of direct sunlight, and require the filtering effect of shade trees to protect the leaves from burning.
In the last 30 years, however, new sun tolerant coffees have been developed. Farmers have been encouraged by USAID and other international development agencies to convert their growing practices to sun-grown systems. While sun coffee produces substantially increased yields, it requires additions of chemical fertilizers, as well as a range of insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. In addition, the lack of tree root structures in the soil of sun coffee plantations causes increased erosion and toxic run-off.
Since more sun bushes can be cultivated per acre, and each plant produces as much as three times more coffee than a shade bush in a given year, the transition from shade to sun coffee seemed to make sense. However, it was soon discovered that sun coffee farms had serious environmental side effects. [back to top]
Differences between Shade And Sun - They Start in the Forest and End in Your Cup
The structure of a traditional shade coffee farm resembles a forest, with several layers of trees, including fruit and hardwood trees, epiphytes (plants that grow on top of trees, such as many orchids), and other bushes and plants that often have economic value. Walking in a sun-coffee field is similar to walking in a cornfield, with one species of plant dominating the landscape.
Up to 40 species of trees can be found on traditionally managed shade coffee plantations; these trees protect the coffee plants that grow beneath them from rain and sun, help maintain soil quality, reduce the need for weeding, and aid in pest control. Organic matter from the shade trees reduces erosion and provides natural mulch, contributing nutrients to the soil and reducing the need for chemical fertilizers. [back to top]
Different Shades of Shade
The structural complexity of coffee plantations ranges from traditional rustic cultivation (most complex - most similar to pristine forest) to unshaded monoculture (least complex - composed only of coffee plants), and everything in between.
Traditional rustic or "mountain coffee" is the system with the highest structural complexity and the least impact on the original ecosystem. Coffee plants replace the shrub-like and herbaceous plants of the forest, but the original tree cover is maintained.
Monoculture, with coffee plants growing in direct sunlight, is the other extreme. No tree cover at all requires high inputs of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, use of machinery, and an intensive workforce year round. It also produces the highest yield of coffee per acre, though the soil in most plantations requires that the fields often sit fallow. Shade-grown coffee plantations can continue to produce year after year. [back to top]
Biodiversity - Why Is Forest Structure Important?
The forest-like structure of shade coffee farms provides habitat for a great number of migratory and resident birds, reptiles, ants, butterflies, bats, plants and other organisms. Focusing solely on birds, shade coffee fields shelter up to two-thirds of the bird species found in natural pristine forests in the same geographic areas. In contrast, sun coffee fields shelter less than one-tenth of bird species. Among transformed land, shade-grown coffee is most likely the crop that supports the highest diversity of migratory birds, native flora and fauna (Perfecto et. al. 1996, Greenberg et. al. 1997. [back to top]