04
Oct
As Demand for Certified Organic Coffee Surges, Study Finds Its Production Practices Have Lowest Carbon Footprint among Coffee Producers
(Beyond Pesticides, October 4, 2024) Coffee is a staple of morning routines for millions around the nation—and as the demand for coffee remains high, so goes the surge in certified organic coffee, offering space for coffee lovers to enjoy the drink and lower their carbon footprint, according a study in Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy. A 2024 survey conducted by the International Food Information Council found that “[t]he majority of Americans (88%) consume caffeine, with 8 in 10 reporting they consume it daily, and nearly half (47%) reporting they consume it multiple times a day.†Coffee overwhelmingly leads in popularity, with 54% of respondents indicating the beverage as their preferred source of caffeine with soft drinks a distant second (17%).
Researchers found in the new coffee production study that certified organic coffee producers in Peru have a lower carbon footprint than transitional organic coffee farmers. As organic land management practices and principles continue to proliferate, advocates continue to stress the importance of third-party certification as an integral part of the integrity of the USDA organic label, overseen by the National Organic Program. As the National Organic Standards Board goes through its mandatory public comment review this month, consumers, companies, farmers, and policymakers engage in rigorous review of organic production across all crops.
“The results indicate that the average emissions for the production units classified as in transition are equivalent to 1.11 kg CO2e per kilogram of green coffee, while for the organic production units, the average emissions associated with 1 kg of green coffee are equivalent to 0.68 kg CO2e.†The data for this study was based on ten farms (a.k.a “production units/PUs†in the study) that are members of an organic coffee cooperative located in Cajamarca, Peru. Five of the farms are “organic†and the other five farms were “in transition,†meaning that some practices and principles are applied but are not subject to inspection and certification. The researchers conducted a life cycle assessment, analyzing the carbon footprint of each farm through an iterative process in alignment with the International Organization for Standardization principles and framework followed by researchers internationally (see here and here).
Researchers measure each stage of the coffee from “cradle to gate,†starting with cultivation and harvesting, and then moving on to wet processing, dry processing, and harboring (referring to exporting from ports). An important feature of life cycle assessments includes an annual inventory of the inputs and outputs for each of the phases. Under the Materials and Methods section, see Table 1 for data used to model field emissions, Table 2 for primary source data for the breakdown of inputs and outputs for coffee cherry (raw fruit pre-processing), Table 3 for equivalent data for coffee parchment (product post-wet processing stage), and Table 4 for data concerning the inputs and outputs per metric ton of “green coffee†(final product).
Researchers highlight several other conclusions from their statistical analysis of the data gathered from the ten farms in the study:
- “One way to reduce the carbon footprint of organic coffee production is through the use of organic fertilizers produced on site. Organic fertilizers are those that come from organic wastes that have been decomposed by microbial means.â€
- “It is observed that “organic†production units PU08 and PU07, and the “in transition†production unit PU02 have the best relative eco-efficiency by having the best combination of lower costs and environmental impacts because they would have the best combinations of costs incurred and environmental impacts generated such as fertilizers and water, while production unit PU05 has the worst performance due to the amount of fertilizer used (guano).â€
- “Thus, an opportunity for improvement to be developed by the government is to develop specific guidelines for the management of organic coffee that will serve as a tool to transfer knowledge, especially to these small farmers whose main reference is the knowledge transmitted from generation to generation.â€
This type of study establishes a roadmap for the continuous research that organic advocates believe incentivizes farmers to transition to organic for a variety of benefits, including soil health and carbon sequestration. “Considering that there are few carbon footprint studies of organic coffee in small farms, that most of the world’s coffee production is concentrated in developing countries and they are now obliged to comply with the signed GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions reduction objectives in the Paris Agreement [], the aim of this study is to analyze and estimate the carbon footprint of organic coffee in order to provide knowledge that can be used to design mitigation strategies in the Peruvian coffee sector located in Cajamarca, Peru.†A group of researchers from Pontifical Catholic University of Peru led this study, with expertise drawn from the Peruvian Network for Life Cycle and Industrial Ecology (PELCAN) and Crisis and Disaster Management Group housed under the Department of Engineering. In the conclusion of this study, researchers indicate that they intend to launch an additional study that will incorporate more organic and transitional sites to build the credibility of these initial findings.
Organic Coffee Data
What is the state of organic coffee in the United States?
There are just 49 certified organic coffee farms in the United States (located in California and Hawai’i) contributing just shy of $1.5 million in sales due to climate constraints necessary for healthy production, based on the latest data from 2021 Organic Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agriculture Statistics Service. Coffee Intelligence, a trade publication with sponsorship from Mayorga Coffee (“The largest exclusively organic coffee roastery in the U.S.â€), identified an interesting contradiction between supply and demand: “While the overall [global] certified coffee area decreased by 2.5% in 2020, organic shot up by 24.6% in the same year†in sales. In other words, consumer demand is up while expansion of certified coffee lags.
“Farmers of organic coffee can and should focus on soil and tree health so that inputs are less or not at all required.” Colehour Bondera, Hawai’i-based organic farmer and Beyond Pesticide Board member shares his experiences and opportunities to quantify soil health benefits of organic coffee production. “Our farm has been working with other organic farms and with University of Hawaii, USDA, and Korean Natural Farming representatives in order to quantify and qualify the impacts of management and inputs which are local and which meet organic standards.” Initial results are promising with interest in strengthening available data on the carbon footprint of organic coffee in Hawai’i.
According to Research Institute of Organic Agriculture and IFOAM-Organic International’s 2024 report, “The World of Organic Agriculture Statistics and Emerging Trends 2024,†which pulled from publicly available data sourced from the private sector, certifiers, and government agencies, certified organic coffee production is up 7.9% between 2013 and 2022; however, the industry has faced recent setbacks in certification given the 17.7% decline in organic farmland for the sector between 2021 and 2022 (Table 9, p. 64). The vast majority of organic coffee is grown in Central and South America (over 421,965 hectares or over 1.04 million acres) according to the same data set (Table 13, p. 72). This is consistent with data published by the Organic Trade Association, which found that Peru produces the vast majority of certified organic coffee compared to its neighbors, with 34,313 metric tons produced as of 2020 (the total for the region is 40,677 metric tons).
This relationship between increased consumer interest in certified organic and lagging domestic organic production is reflected in economic data gathered by USDA. In 2021, the total value of organic imports was $2.7 billion. The U.S. is projected to import 24.5 million bags of coffee beans (up 900,000 bags from the previous year) due to continuous demand for coffee, according to the 2024 USDA Foreign Agricultural Service report on world markets and trade for coffee. The USDA Economic Research Service and U.S. Census Bureau, in coordination with the USDA Foreign Agricultural Research Service, began collecting economic data on organic agricultural imports in 2011 and found that organic coffee accounted for seven percent of total coffee imports and organic coffee was the most imported commodity beyond soybeans, black tea, rice, and several other agricultural imports. It is unclear if there is updated data since 2011, as of the date of this publication.
“Small scale organic coffee production is doable if we all are working together to the same purposes and supporting one another,” Bondera reflects on the potential for growing the sector across the United States. At the conclusion of National Organic Month at the end of September, support for organic agriculture continues to mount ahead of the National Organic Standards Board fall meeting. The Board will review public comments and make decisions that will define the integrity of national organic standards. See previous Actions of the Week here and here to continue engaging in keeping organic strong. See Keeping Organic Strong to learn about the various issues and opportunities to improve organic standards.
All unattributed positions and opinions in this piece are those of Beyond Pesticides. Â
Source: Cleaner and Circular Bioeconomy
