Organic Coffee: It's Only Fair by Debbie O'Meara

Organic coffee is not only healthier than the coffee grown using conventional methods - it's tasty, too. It protects the natural environment by making as few changes to the natural vegetation as possible. Coffee is a special plant - it must grow in shade and on fragile and fertile soil. Coffee regions are highly biodiversified. Organic coffees are grown on fragile soils, and often on steep terrain highly susceptible to erosion. This delicate balance makes coffee-growing areas extra-susceptible to damage from human intervention.

Nature provides her own alternatives to the chemicals used by many commercial growers. To prevent the nutrients from the topsoil's being bleached by the sun, organic growers plant trees such as banana, plantain, mahogany, guava palm and others. Not only do these trees protect the soil, they provide wildlife habitat even for migratory birds that lost their natural habitat because of deforestation.

As with all organic foods, organic coffee it is grown without any synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, which is enabled by inter-planting of other food and cash crops along with coffee into already existing ecosystem or by creating a multi-layered coffee plantation. The leaves falling from the trees, along with compost made from the mulch of coffee cherries, cattle manure, and residues from inter-planted crops, are natural fertilizers. Birds and insects control pests. These practices make for healthier soil, preventing water pollution as well as improving the ecosystem of the farm. Pollution is further minimized by reducing water use during coffee processing.

Coffee companies also care for the community by providing educational, healthcare and nutritional programs in their partner coffee communities. They also give jobs in poverty regions in the harvest time.

Packages of organically-grown coffee carry certificates that prove their pedigree. When a farm is a member of a "fair trade" co-op, buyers can be certain that they're buying true organic fair trade coffee. This means that the certified organic coffee was bought at a fixed price from cooperatives of small farmers and importers and roasters purchased the coffee on fixed contracts directly from the cooperative.

There are areas where organic farming led to actual increases in bird diversity. Producers provide a wide whole variety of coffee products - they may come in a range of blends and roasts you can choose from, differing by their aroma, body, or region of production.

Buying organic coffee means supporting farmers and a great care for the environment. It means thinking globally - beyond your own cup.


About the Author
Debbie O'Meara is the owner of www.organic-food-and-drink.com, full of resources and information about organic food and beverages, including coffee. Get the free newsletter for organic specials and updates, plus a free ecourse on wine!