In July I travelled to Brazil with Jamie to visit our partners SMC, in Guaxupe, and farms. This was my first experience of coffee farms in Brazil, and what I saw challenged my preconceptions. Much of the coffee we source from outside of Brazil is produced by smallholders, shade-grown, and often certified. This is a very different situation than that of how coffee is grown in Brazil. Farms are much larger, often fields are planted in full sun (more how you would expect a vineyard to look), and it’s very rare to find Organic certified Brazilian coffee, although Fairtrade and Rainforest certified coffee is common.
A small farm in Brazil can be 10ha, whereas in the rest of the world a small farm is likely less than 1ha, so the difference in scale is considerable. There is a belief that operating on a more industrial scale is less sustainable. However, this trip to SMC proved to me that this is not necessarily the case.
Being shade grown and Organic certified go hand in hand. But in Brazil, where most coffee is harvested mechanically, it is simply not practical to grow coffees amongst other trees. Imagine trying to get mechanised harvesting vehicles through forests! Mechanised farming is here to stay in Brazil, becoming even more necessary due to the sharp decline in labour availability, particularly workers to pick coffee during harvest. Without these workers, machines become necessary for farmers to bring in the harvest. This makes it seem unlikely that there will be more Organic certified coffee in Brazil in the future.
Palmital
When it comes to organic farming though, on this trip I learnt that many producers are farming using organic practices, or at least working towards them, with no goal of becoming Organic certified. Rather they are doing this directly with sustainability in mind. In countries, like the UK, that most consume products, rather than cultivate them, the idea of sustainability can be quite conceptual and far removed, but when your livelihood relies on you producing a good harvest year after year, it is something very real that you need to take daily practical steps for. And this is exactly what we saw in Brazil.
Some examples of sustainable actions we saw were:
The use of cover plants, provided by Cooxupe, between rows of coffee trees. These plants are mostly grasses, and they work through strengthening the soil through their roots. This makes the ground more absorbent and therefore able to hold more water, meaning there is more water available for the coffees trees. We saw these used at many farms, including Sitio Penha, which is one of the farms in the Vinte Blend.
Sitio Penha
Biological Monitoring (MOBI) at Aracacu. Ucha has employed a full time biologist to understand the flora and fauna of the farm, so they can have a full and detailed picture of the farm before introducing anything else. As a result, they have been able to reduce the amount of inputs (e.g. fertilisers) by 57% since 2022, an impressive feat with environmental and financial benefits. They have also been using organic fertiliser made on the farm from waste products; this, plus the impact of the MOBI, has meant they have been able to reduce their carbon footprint by an impressive 53 MT.
Having 20% of your farm as native forest is a legal requirement in Brazil. This is to preserve and enhance the natural environment and biodiversity. Often providing corridors for wildlife and habitats for birds. This is a brilliant requirement, and one that SMC really supports and enables their farmers to comply with, and even go beyond. They have a nursery with a capacity up to 60,000 native tree seedlings. Their agronomist assesses each farmer’s farm and provide a selection of native forest seedlings that are appropriate for each farm. Then the geolocation of each seedling is logged so its progress can be monitored. Whilst the legal requirement is 20%, many farms go above and beyond, including at Aracacu where 27% of the farm is native forest. Another example we saw was at Faxinal. This is a more commercial farm that was bought by its current owners 4 years and is under complete renovation. Part of this has included planting a staggering 2,500+ trees in that time, to increase the native forest and protect the environment and waterways.
These are just a few examples of sustainable actions farmers often take that can go unnoticed without the verification of certification. However, whilst brilliant in their own ways, certifications are not always what it best for the individual farmer. Certifications don’t always take into consideration the unique environment of each farm, which can be a deterrent. Although, the story we most commonly hear for why a farmer may not be interested in becoming certified, is the admin and the cost required to do so, which is often felt to be more hassle than the reward of the certification.
Beyond this, we saw many more examples of proactive sustainable actions being taken. At the heart of this momentum is the Geracoes program. Created by the ESG team at Cooxupe (SMC’s parent), Geracoes is a grass-roots sustainability program. Geracoes, meaning ‘generations’ in English, was created with the goal of ensuring that there is a future for coffee in Brazil. This program was designed with the Brazilian coffee farmers, and their unique circumstances, in mind, by people who understand the challenges and the futures facing coffee farmers in Brazil.
This trip opened my eyes to just how sustainable Brazilian coffee can be through the brilliant work of farmers and SMC and their Geracoes protocol, and we are proud to be working in partnership with them.
Stay tuned for more on Geracoes!
