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Coffee
The coffee bush, with its emerald leaves and crimson cherries, is an understory plant that evolved in the rainforests of Africa and grew into one of the most important crops in the world. In more than 50 countries, including some of the poorest nations, coffee is an economic engine and the primary activity in rural highlands. Most of the coffee that warms your hands and flatters your palate started out on a small farm. According to the World Bank, 17 to 20 million families grow coffee; for many, it is their only source of income. This makes coffee a pillar of rural development, but only if farmers know how to compete in a tough, globalized commodity market. Producers who want a successful, productive, efficient and sustainable farm follow the farm management guidelines continuously developed since 1992 by the Sustainable Agriculture Network, a coalition of independent NGOs. By following the guidelines, farmers can reduce costs, conserve natural resources, control pollution, conserve wildlife habitat, ensure rights and benefits for workers, improve the quality of their harvest -- and earn the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal of approval.
The seal allows producers to distinguish their coffee, establish long-term relations with buyers, enter premium markets and command a higher price. The certification guarantees that the farm is managed according to the highest social and environmental standards. Farm families are not the only ones to benefit from certification. Forested coffee farms are homes to countless species of wildlife, bastions of biodiversity in tropical landscapes bedeviled by deforestation and development. Certified farmers share their lands with many emblematic rainforest species such as toucans, hummingbirds, parrots, monkeys, ocelots, tree frogs, bromeliads, rare orchids and butterflies. Biologists with the Sustainable Agriculture Network say that coffee and cocoa are the crops that can be grown in near harmony with the rainforest and in concert with conservation initiatives. Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee farms are used as outdoor classrooms for innovative farming techniques, as models of rural development, as extensions of parks, as biological corridors, and as watersheds providing clean drinking water for communities at lower altitudes. There's another thing about Rainforest Alliance Certified coffee that is catching the attention of discriminating sippers around the world: It tastes great. Beautifully blended beans from certified farms are appearing in thousands of outlets -- workplaces, restaurants, supermarkets, coffee shops and campuses.
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