From the Field, From the Lab, All the Rest
Thursday, June 13, 2019
Addressing Climate Change Through Coffee Farming
As we face the looming impacts of climate change and wonder what coffee farming and production will look like in the coming years, there remains a glimmer of hope. A new study has found that coffee farms with more biodiversity have a greater capacity as carbon sinks and thus produce fewer carbon emissions than mono-cropped farms.
The Study
The study followed 300 Robusta farms in Vietnam for 2 years and determined that the level of diversification of a coffee farm influences its overall carbon footprint. While farms with higher biodiversity (and less mono-cropping) have higher carbon emissions, they also function as bigger carbon sinks, leading to a lower overall carbon footprint.
The study also found that carbon emissions could be lowered by managing fertilizer inputs and specifically by limiting nitrogen application. Additionally, the study discovered that fallen leaves and plant matter also sequester carbon, which can be good news for farmers who use leaves and other plant matter as fertilizer.
Considering that Vietnam is the world’s second largest coffee producer, this study in Vietnam alone has significant potential influence coffee’s carbon footprint and mitigate climate change. This potential is further multiplied when you consider Brazil, the world’s largest coffee producer, which is also well known for its mono-cultural plantations.
Takeaways
There are two main points to bring away from this study. The first is that in order to mitigate oncoming climate change, we need to consider transitioning currently mono-cropped farms to more diversified and inter-cropped systems. This will increase the carbon sequestration ability of these farms and simultaneously prevent additional carbon emissions and reduce existing carbon in the atmosphere.
The second point is an interesting one. Considering the potential of coffee farms as carbon sinks, we should contemplate the idea of using farms’ potential as a way to bring greater income to farmers while also helping the environment by reducing carbon emissions.
Carbon Trading
Carbon trading is the idea that each company is allocated a certain amount of carbon they may emit in a single year. If a company exceeds their allotment, they can find another company, who is under their allotment, to sell them their excess carbon ‘credits,’ or, they could potentially finance or support a carbon sequestration project such as a coffee farm.
In this model, coffee farms could be paid by companies seeking extra carbon allotments to diversify their crops, farm more land, or just continue doing what they are doing.
Stumbling Blocks
While carbon trading may seem like the ideal solution: let’s get coffee farmers paid for doing what they do best, farming! It has a few issues. The main issue is that to institute such a system would probably require worldwide cooperation. Otherwise, anyone could skirt the carbon credit system by moving their company to a place without a carbon credit system. However, this can be instituted on a smaller scale with companies that elect to participate in carbon trading. Though this may not address carbon emissions as a whole, it is definitely a start.
Another potential issue is that bargaining power is unequal between a large corporation and an individual farmer. With the imbalance of power, farmers may not get the full benefit of their carbon sequestering farms, leading to furthering, rather than mitigating inequality.