Return to Main
By David Griswold and Justin Ward, The Journal of Commerce
Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News
Nov. 6--Big changes are brewing for Mexico's coffee sector. Unfortunately it brings bitter news to coffee producers, consumers and conservationists.
Recently, Mexico announced its ambitious "Coffee Program 1995-2000,'' a multimillion-dollar effort to convert its 289,000 coffee producers and approximately 2 million acres of coffee farms to "technified'' coffee production. Coffee "technification'' is the replacement of traditional coffee trees with hybrids that produce more but require heavy applications of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Technification also entails the removal or reduction of the tall shade trees on coffee farms.
If implemented, Mexico's proposed agriculture program may destroy both its extraordinary biological wealth and its market advantages as a coffee producer. The tropical regions in Mexico and Central America support the ideal coffee growing conditions: rich volcanic soils, high mountains, warm weather, and sufficient rainfall. Traditionally, coffee grows best when placed under a canopy of native shade trees that protect its leaves from direct exposure to the sunlight.
Luckily, Mexico has yet to convert its coffee farms to technified coffee. Recent land census data indicate that 80 percent or more of the country's coffee production still occurs under shaded conditions. Despite lower coffee yields than its southern neighbors, Mexico still is the world's fourth largest coffee producer, and most of its coffee crop is exported to the United States.
Starting in the 1950s, however, coffee production worldwide began to shift away from this traditional system. Brazil, Colombia and other coffee producing countries have increased yields through the introduction of new hybrids, elimination of shade cover, and high chemical inputs. Now it appears Mexico may join this trend.
In a fundamental way the removal of shade on coffee farms is a form of deforestation. To convert Mexico's remaining shade coffee farms to sun- grown plantations would compound the impacts of forest loss, which some experts estimate occurs in Mexico on 1 million acres of forest land annually.
Tropical forests are essential habitats for migratory birds on the North American continent. Each winter, millions of birds fly south from Canada and the United States to warmer climates in Mexico and Central America. The shift toward technified coffee production puts migratory bird populations at risk.
Research by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center indicates that for a number of birds, like the Baltimore (Northern) Oriole, Mexico's shade coffee farms provide a habitat refuge from deforested lands. In the southern state of Chiapas they discovered that traditional shaded coffee plantations support a significantly higher number of migratory bird species than found in other agricultural lands. Ninety percent fewer bird species inhabit technified coffee plantations compared to fully shaded coffee. It also appears that the value of shaded coffee systems, in terms of bird diversity, are comparable to natural forest systems.
If the Mexican government achieves its stated goal of surpassing Colombia in coffee production, its success will only drive coffee prices lower. Production worldwide already outstrips demand, causing depressed coffee prices which have had devastating impacts on small growers and rural communities in Mexico, and have contributed to the social unrest plaguing the country. By doubling or tripling its production, Mexico's action may bring world coffee prices to their lowest points in history.
Mexico should pay heed to important consumption shifts among coffee drinkers. The United States is the biggest coffee market in the world. While overall U.S. consumption of coffee has remained flat, about 30 percent of the market is the rapidly growing popularity of higher quality coffees, or "specialty'' coffees.
There may be a correlation between coffee quality and shade cover. Tests conducted by the Guatemalan Coffee Institute indicate that shade cover has a positive effect on the quality of the coffee. Shade slows the maturation of the coffee bean on the plant, allowing the development of higher sugar content and giving the bean better flavor. The study also found that among certain coffee varieties shade cover had a similar effect as altitude, which correlates with better tasting beans.
Mexico may find promoting shade coffee will help its struggling small-producers sector achieve success in the growing organic coffee market. Mexico is the world's leading producer of organically certified coffee, which is coffee grown without chemicals and often with diversified forest shade cover. Last year, organic coffee sales grew by 23 percent, making it one of the fastest-growing market niches.
Coffee is an example where the marketplace can help protect shared ecosystems. Shade coffee represents an opportunity where doing what is good for consumers is also good for the environment. Mexico's coffee policy should consider quality and conservation elements in coffee production.
David Griswold is president of Sustainable Harvest, Emeryville, Calif., an importer of shade-grown specialty coffees from Mexico.
Justin Ward is a senior policy specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington.
[Sustainable & Ecological] [Other Fair Trademarks]