Specialty green coffee traders, sourcing from 26 origins on behalf of over 1000 roasters.
Coffee Carbon Project
Coffee producers who work with Falcon Coffees Peru in Jaén, Peru were the first to be part of the project.
In October 2022, we visited farms and surveyed 25 producers to gather information. We wanted to learn about potential sources that produce emissions as well as sinks that reduce emissions. We added questions about emissions for the 2022 harvest into the 2023 inspection survey. 146 producers participated in the survey.
At the start of the 2021 project, we reviewed scientific literature for methods to measure emissions on coffee farms. We also assessed the carbon accounting models currently on the market. We designed a survey based on our findings. It will gather information on items that could produce or sequester emissions. In October 2022, we surveyed coffee producers and took ecological field measurements on a subset of the farms.
From the preliminary data collected, we created a draft model for calculating emissions. In May 2023, we conducted more fieldwork to enhance our emissions model’s accuracy. We also included questions about farm emissions and sequestration in Falcon Coffees Peru’s 2023 annual inspection survey. This way, we can gather more data from a wider range of producers. In mid-November 2023, after many improvements and iterations, we completed the emissions model.
The coffee value chain begins in tropical countries. That’s where coffee is grown, harvested, and processed. It ends in import countries. There, green coffee is bought, roasted, and sold for consumption.
For the past 3 years, we have been tracking our emissions starting from the mill or port, depending on where we take ownership of the coffee per the buying contract. We track the emissions to the warehouse in the import country, where the coffee is stored until it is shipped to a roaster. The Carbon Project is designed to measure the emissions from the farm and post-harvest process.
Every origin produces and processes coffee slightly differently. In some places, like Rwanda, farmers bring coffee cherry to be processed at a centralized wet mill, a washing station. No processing happens on the farm. However, in Jaén, Peru, where our pilot study was conducted, there is no centralized wet mill, so producers process the cherry on their farms. The two main methods of processing are washed and natural.
Through this project, we have developed a model in R that calculates farm-level emissions. We have also created a survey intentionally designed with questions that coffee producers can answer.
This was one of the major shortcomings of the farm-level carbon calculators currently on the market that we wanted to improve upon.
The input data required to run the model was unrealistic to ask of a coffee producer. Furthermore, the calculators were not specific to coffee farming. All emissions models have assumptions and uncertainties, none of them are perfect. But we were able to draw on our deep coffee knowledge, the University of Brighton’s expertise in emissions, as well as my own background as an agroecologist working in coffee for the last 14 years.
We will submit our research findings to a peer-reviewed scientific journal. We will add a link here once that is published.
Now that we have our model and methods for measuring farm-level emissions, we want to expand to other origins. Every origin produces and processes coffee a little differently. We will need to tweak our model accordingly. We’re interested to find out how other places compare to what we’ve found with our producers in Jaén.
We are developing a carbon calculator based on data from Jaén. We will add it to our website for our clients to explore. Stay tuned for more…
Pruning residue management
The way crop residues are managed can greatly influence the levels of emissions.
If residue is wet and left in a pile untreated, it emits methane as it degrades which is 23 times more potent of a GHG than carbon.
If it is mulched and spread on the farm or composted and aerated (for the pulp), fewer emissions are generated.
Pruning: trees and coffee
Coffee plants also sequester carbon. However, carbon is released when the trees are pruned, trimmed, or cut.
So the amount sequestered has to be reduced by the amount that is pruned.
Fertiliser use
Nitrogen fertilizers are one of the highest sources of emissions on coffee farms due to the nitrous oxide created which is 300 times more potent of a GHG than carbon.
Interestingly, heavy use of organic fertilizers causes similar levels of GHG emissions as inorganic fertilizer for on farm use – because of the nitrous oxide created - whether organic or inorganic nitrogen sources.
Type of shade management
Coffee farms can be managed in various ways - from monocultures of coffee plants to coffee grown in the understory of forests and all the gradients in between.
Coffee monocultures are called "sun coffee" to distinguish from coffee grown interspersed with other types of trees and vegetation called “shade-grown coffee” or just “shade coffee” for short.
We have grouped these management systems into three broad categories using percent canopy cover as the defining metric.
Production of fertiliser
Did you know that for inorganic (aka synthetic) fertilizers, the production releases almost as much emissions as the use? Huge amounts of energy and heat are required to manufacture chemical nitrogen compounds.
Fuel use: equipment and vehicles
On most small-holder coffee farms, minimal energy is used. Fuel is needed for equipment such as weed whackers or chainsaws, but that’s really it. On larger farms, fuel is used to transport workers to different areas of the farm.
PATIO DRYING and RAISED BEDS
There are no emissions associated with natural processed coffee at this stage because the coffee is not depulped (no compost or waste) or washed after fermentation (no wastewater).
