If you love coffee or even only enjoy the occasional cup, you may have heard of shade-grown coffee, but you may be unaware of its importance for migratory North American songbirds. Such popular and familiar birds as Wood Thrush, Cerulean Warbler, Tennessee Warbler, Ovenbird, Gray Catbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, Scarlet Tanager, Magnolia Warbler, and Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, all of which can be seen in Pennsylvania in the spring and summer, benefit from this type of coffee cultivation in their Central and South American wintering grounds. To learn more about shade-grown coffee, I reached out to Kirsten Snyder, one of the founders of the Bird Friendly® Coffee Coalition who kindly agreed to answer a few questions about the process and importance of this product.
Thank you for taking time to answer some questions. First, please say a little bit about your interest in birds and your work with the Smithsonian.
I’m a volunteer bird bander for Willistown Conservation Trust at Rushton Woods Banding Station in Newtown Square. We band migratory songbirds for avian research. A little over a year ago we started the Bird Friendly® Coffee Coalition to raise awareness of and demand for bird-friendly coffee at a grassroots level.
What’s shade-grown coffee anyway, and why is it important?
Coffee is naturally a shade-loving plant. It prefers to grow in lush rainforest, which provides habitat for migratory songbirds and many other species. Coffee varieties bred to grow in the sun require the destruction of rainforest habitat and subsequent management with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. This monoculture approach to growing coffee destroys entire ecosystems. The term shade-grown requires some careful consideration. “Shade” can mean anything from old growth rainforest to a single young tree or a tarp strung over crops. There is no focused certification for “shade grown,” so without the research of organizations like the Smithsonian Institution, the onus would be on the consumer to research exactly what each farmer means by shade grown, and that is nearly impossible for the average consumer.
Why does Smithsonian certification matter?
In the last 50 years, North America has lost over three billion birds, or 29% of the total bird population. Easily studied, birds are truly canaries in the coal mine, and a decline of that magnitude signals a global ecological crisis which impacts every species living on the planet. The widespread loss and degradation of habitat is in large part to blame. The cultivation of sun-grown coffee varieties has resulted in most coffee being grown today at the expense of tropical forests and the habitat they provide. The use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to support sun-grown crops further degrades the environment. Today, seventy-five percent of all coffee, the majority of 27 million acres, is grown on clear-cut farms where entire ecosystems have been destroyed, and continued production threatens to destroy even more rainforest. Each small cup of conventionally grown coffee costs one square inch of rainforest.
Americans drink 400 million cups of coffee every day. Shifting the coffee standard to Bird Friendly® would have a profound impact on bird and habitat conservation. Choosing Bird Friendly® coffee would also raise awareness of a parallel and critical issue in our own backyards.
Migratory songbirds that overwinter in South America rely on resources found in undisturbed tropical rainforest to survive and to return to Pennsylvania to breed or to fuel up before continuing their journey as far north as Canada’s boreal forest. If any of the habitats they rely on are degraded or destroyed, their chances of survival plummet. Birds require the same general conditions here in Pennsylvania as they do in the rainforest. They require biodiversity. They need landscapes built on leaf litter and soil teeming with microorganisms. They need all the levels of the forest and all the wildness of the meadows. They need clean water and abundant native food resources. Conventional coffee farms render the landscape inhospitable to the vast majority of creatures, as does our Victorian aesthetic of tidy, treated, green lawns with strategically placed, blossoming trees. There are at least 40 million acres of manicured lawn in the United States. We dedicate more acreage to turf than we do to food crops such as corn. It’s imperative that we conserve and restore habitat here at home. Starting the day with a cup of Bird Friendly® coffee meant to save the rainforest saves local Pennsylvania habitat as well because it makes the drinker a thinker. Informed and inspired, we can turn the tide both here at home and in the rainforest.
How does Smithsonian verify that the shade being used is from trees and not just canopies?
The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center certifies Bird Friendly® coffee farms with an extensive list of criteria. Independent inspectors visit the farms regularly to ensure there are three intact and biodiverse layers of canopy providing dense shade to no less than 40% of the farm. Farms must have generous areas along waterways that have shrubs and trees to prevent erosion, filter water running off from the fields into the waterway, and provide wildlife habitat. Farms must have plenty of leaf litter to support microorganisms that aid the soil in retaining water and resisting erosion.
Why is shade-grown coffee more expensive than other kinds?
The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center charges participating farms and roasters a small fee for Bird Friendly® certification. These fees go toward avian and biodiversity research. While fees may be passed along to consumers, they amount to a penny or two per cup, which is a very small price to pay to ensure our coffee indulgence helps the planet rather than hurting it.
Is Smithsonian-certified coffee fair trade? Is it always organic?
The Smithsonian requires both fair trade and organic certification for all farms considered for the Bird Friendly® program. Individual roasters may or may not include all certifications on their labels, but if the Bird Friendly® certificate is present, consumers can rest assured they are purchasing beans with all three certifications.
Where can shade-grown coffee be purchased, and how can one be sure it’s certified?
There is no certification for shade-grown coffee on its own, but when you see the Smithsonian Bird Friendly® logo, you can be assured that the beans you are purchasing came from a farm where there is not only shade, but a list of other essential criteria for conserving bird habitat. Consumers can find Bird Friendly® coffee collaborations between Willistown Conservation Trust and local coffee roasters on the WCT website and at all Kimberton Whole Foods markets. If you are committed to buying local, and your roaster or market doesn’t carry Bird Friendly®, one of the most impactful things you can do is ask for it and briefly explain why it’s important to you. I am surprised over and over again while talking to accomplished roasters and savvy merchants that they know nothing of this movement.
If there’s no roaster near where you live that carries Smithsonian-certified coffee, is it OK to have it shipped from somewhere else even though individualized shipping carries a carbon footprint?
Willistown Conservation Trust is committed to making Bird Friendly® the standard for coffee so our community members can help the planet by purchasing locally. We are happy to share our model with conservation organizations in other regions to make Bird Friendly® coffee more locally accessible. If there’s none near you, why not jump on the bandwagon and help Bird Friendly® take flight? In the meantime, click here for a list of Bird Friendly® sources for order that the Smithsonian provides.
Gregory Luce is a poet and writer living in Arlington, VA.
Image Credits:
Shade-grown coffee farm in Colombia, by Brian Smith/American Bird Conservancy, licensed under CC by 2.0
Wood Thrush, by Jeff Kaboly, used with permission