Coffee Landscape Research Articles

Environmental Dynamics in The Sumatran Coffee Landscapes: Opportunities and Challenges Through Spatial Perspectives

The coffee industry in Indonesia, particularly in the Sumatran landscape, emerges as a vital contributor to the nation's economy, impacting regional growth. Nevertheless, this landscape faces ecological threats from rapid deforestation, resulting in a substantial loss of primary forest cover. This historical deforestation along with climate crisis presents challenges for coffee plantations. The study employs geospatial analysis to comprehensively outline challenges and opportunities for smallholder coffee farmers in Sumatra, particularly in the Arabica (Central Aceh) and Robusta (Tanggamus) landscapes. The study shows non-shade coffee plantations covered approximately 23,453 ha in Central Aceh and 43,991 ha in Tanggamus. Additionally, mixed agroforestry areas were prevalent, comprising about 132,569 ha in Tanggamus and 19,450 ha in Central Aceh. Tanggamus and Central Aceh have become favorable areas for Robusta coffee and Arabica coffee, respectively. One significant opportunity identified for coffee development in Central Aceh is that 86% of existing coffee farms already adhere to EUDR. Furthermore, 94% of existing coffee farms in Tanggamus meet EUDR standards, opening doors for more farmers to access the European market.

Building a sustainable pop-up coffee shop; case study of rehat coffee

Begin a riveting trip through the revolutionary leaps of Rehat Coffee, a dynamic pop-up coffee shop located in Banjarmasin, Indonesia. Rehat Coffee is pioneering a vibrant modern economic community by seamlessly combining features of the low-cost entrepreneurship, sustainability, and cultural heritage. Rehat Coffee expertly integrates global coffee trends and local preferences through thorough market research, smart collaborations, and environmentally conscientious procedures. This qualitative report thoroughly explores Rehat Coffee's strategic prowess and revolutionary impact on the econoociety, and environment. It'll be interesting to delve into Rehat Coffee's historical narrative, sustainability efforts, and community engagement to discover the tremendous potential of transforming the coffee landscape while encouraging long-term community development. The study sheds the spotlight on the consequences of Rehat Coffee's creative strategy for future entrepreneurs trying to balance profitability and sustainability, thereby motivating a new wave of socially responsible bmy, susiness practices.

TERRITORIALIZAÇÃO DO CAFÉ NO CAPARAÓ CAPIXABA

Brazil has several regions shaped by the insertion of the coffee economy, an arrangement that highlights the coffee production chain as a structuring element of the territory. This article aims to characterize the territorialization of the coffee production chain in the Caparaó Capixaba region. The qualitative, exploratory, descriptive, and ethnographic research is divided into three stages: bibliographic, fieldwork and interviews. The field research lasted from November 2020 to January 2021. The interviews, conducted online, occurred between September and November 2021. The respondents were 15 coffee producers in the municipalities of Iúna and Irupi, in Caparaó Capixaba, Brazil. Consequently, the formation of Caparaó territoriality from the region's historic coffee culture is evident. Thus, the study increases the understanding of the production, consumption, and commercialization of the region's coffee. Some essential factors considered are the appropriation of space by producers, resignification of practices and territory through work, reinforcement of local identity, formation of the coffee landscape and subsequent productive differentiation through the focus on specialty coffees. Finally, visibility is given to coffee growers' protagonism in a region neglected in recent decades due to low quantitative productivity but which boasts expressive results in agroecological, family and specialty coffee production. Keywords: Appropriation. Identity. Work. Landscape Coffee Production.

Agricultural shocks, coping policies and deforestation: Evidence from the coffee leaf rust epidemic in Mexico

AbstractDeforestation in the tropics is a critical issue that interacts with global environmental changes, and the mediating role of negative agricultural shocks is ambiguous. We investigate the impact of the massive epidemic of coffee leaf rust (CLR) that affected Mexico from 2012 on deforestation. CLR is a fungal disease that negatively affects coffee production. We exploit the gradual spread of the epidemic across coffee‐growing municipalities and estimate a difference‐in‐differences model. We find that deforestation increased by 32% in CLR‐affected municipalities, but we find no increase in agricultural land. We find evidence of deforestation in cropland area, and our effects are driven by states where rustic coffee systems were predominant. These results suggest that deforestation occurred within coffee cultivation areas and point out the concurrent role of government subsidies and incentives through the PROCAFE program, launched in 2014, that promoted the replacement of traditional coffee trees by CLR‐resistant hybrids. We study the dynamic effects of CLR and exploit the delayed launch of PROCAFE to try to disentangle the impact of the epidemic from that of the policy response. Our results emphasize the vulnerability of agroforestry systems to exogenous shocks and suggest that PROCAFE, as a short‐term response to CLR, contributed to increasing deforestation and accelerating the transition of Mexican traditional coffee landscapes to monoculture.

Yield increases mediated by pollination and carbon payments can offset restoration costs in coffee landscapes

Yield increases mediated by pollination and carbon payments can offset restoration costs in coffee landscapes

The Emergence of Local Coffee Brands: A Paradigm Shift in Jakarta Coffee Culture

This article delves into the burgeoning coffee market in Jakarta, Indonesia, to explore the factors that have propelled local coffee brands to success. It examines the cultural significance of coffee in Indonesian society, the increasing demand for specialty coffee, and the strategies employed by local brands to gain a competitive edge. Coffee has evolved beyond a mere beverage in Jakarta, becoming a symbol of cultural importance and a cherished tradition that unites people from diverse backgrounds. The article highlights the vibrant coffee culture in Jakarta, where coffee shops serve as social hubs, fostering connections and providing spaces for relaxation, intellectual discussions, and community engagement. It explores the coexistence of commercial and specialty coffee, with local brands catering to the diverse preferences of consumers. The article also delves into the strategies employed by local brands to cater to the demand for specialty coffee, including affordability, quality sourcing, and customization options. By understanding and adapting to the unique preferences of Jakarta's coffee culture, local coffee brands have emerged as significant players, shaping the future of the city's coffee industry. The research methodology involves interviews with industry professionals and the author's observations as a coffee professional and SCA trainer, providing valuable insights into Jakarta's specialty and commercial coffee landscape.

Continuous forest at higher elevation plays a key role in maintaining bird and mammal diversity across an Andean coffee‐growing landscape

AbstractShade coffee is among the most widespread and economically important crops in montane tropical regions and is considered more hospitable to wildlife than non‐shaded crops. Questions remain regarding the value of shade coffee as habitat for wildlife, however, given the historical research focus on small‐bodied and canopy species. Simultaneously, climate‐driven upslope migration of coffee crops represents an emerging threat to well‐conserved tropical montane forest at higher elevations. This study examined ground‐dwelling birds and medium‐large mammals in a shade coffee landscape of the Western Andes of Colombia. We asked the following questions: (1) How do bird and mammal occupancy, richness, and community composition change from continuous forest at higher elevations to middle‐elevation forest fragments and shade coffee? (2) Do birds and mammals differ in their response to shade coffee? (3) Do high‐elevation forests contribute to maintaining biodiversity in mid‐elevation shade coffee? We sampled birds and mammals with camera traps in middle‐elevation shade coffee plantations and forest fragments and in continuous forest further upslope. We then used a multi‐species occupancy model to correct for imperfect detection and to estimate occupancy, richness, and community composition. Shade coffee lacked ~50% of the bird and mammal species found in continuous forest, primarily large‐bodied and insectivorous birds and forest‐specialist and large‐bodied mammals. Forest fragment richness was closer to shade coffee than to continuous forest, but species composition significantly differed between coffee and both forest types. Birds in coffee plantations were generally a unique subset of disturbance‐adapted specialists, whereas mammals in coffee were mostly generalists. Distance from continuous forest was the most important landscape‐level predictor of occupancy for both taxa, suggesting that this forest plays a key role in maintaining biodiversity across the coffee landscape. Biodiversity conservation in shade coffee landscapes, therefore, will be ineffective unless linked to landscape‐level initiatives that conserve higher elevation tropical montane forest.

Coffee Landscape of Banyuwangi Geopark: Ecology, Conservation, and Sustainable Tourism Development

Coffee landscape is one of the crucial elemnt of Banyuwangi Geopark, East Java. Coffee landscape plays an essential role in supporting the sustainable ecosystem in Banyuwangi Geopark. A number of studies have already examined ways to develop and preserve the coffee landscape and its biodiversity, especially in coffee cultivated under agroforestry system. This paper aims to describe the ecology of coffee landscapes in Banyuwangi, identify the problems and opportunities for preservation and biodiversity conservation, explore the possibilities of integrating coffee and tourism, and provide recommendations to preserve the coffee landscape and its biodiversity. Field survey, literature studies and interviews with farmers, tourism consultants, local travel planner, and local guides were conducted to get comprehensive data and information of the tourism potential of coffee landscape ecosystems. Data were analyzed using descriptive analysis. Result of the study shows that Banyuwangi is home to numerous state-, private-, and peasant-owned coffee orchards. Coffee agroforestry has already been established for a long time, contributing to biodiversity conservations. Coffee cultivation is a common practice among communities, which later inspired the creation of a coffee festival. With the high number of tourism attractions located in the geopark area coupled with the trend in tourism development, there is potential in integrating coffee into tourism. Important actions have to be done first, and these are as follows: mapping and describing coffee orchard distribution, enhancing peasant capacity in coffee cultivation, introducing and strengthening sustainable tourism principles, and establishing regulation to ensure the preservation and conservation of coffee cultural landscapes. Result of the studies reported here can be used to provide guidelines for the management of coffee landscape in the Banyuwangi Geopark area.

Possibilities for Multispecies Approaches in Coffee Landscapes

Multispecies approaches can increase our knowledge around the social and ecological dimensions of coffee landscapes. Ethnobiologists combine the social and natural sciences to study the relationships between humans, the environment, and biota. Multispecies approaches can build from these strategies to further explore the social and biological elements that humans together with more-than-humans contribute to ecological landscapes. Using co-constitutions as a key concept, I highlight multispecies studies into agrarian worlds, review ethnobiological studies around coffee, and suggest potential research areas.

About agricultural manuals, gardens and coffee plantations: mosaics and landscape transformation in the Paraiba do Sul Valley, Brazil

Economic cycles have often become the landscape matrix, in a hybrid process of society-nature transformation, leaving distinct legacies in it. The coffee plantation showed great productivity in the Paraíba do Sul Valley to the detriment of forests, resulting in profound changes in geo-hydric cycles. Although the transformation by coffee has been significant on a spatial scale and in environmental changes, the Paraíba do Sul Valley landscape needs to be understood in a broader perspective. There were also other crops in the landscape inside or outside large estates. This work aims to recognize the spatial organization of these cultures and develop an understanding of the pattern of the coffee landscape, showing the performance of different social actors. The methodology consisted of a bibliographic review and analysis of historical agricultural manuals. Spatializing such past activities and social groups in the landscape shows us what was previously hidden, omitted by the traditional historical narrative This research showed that colonial knowledge developed a landscape compartmentalization, spatializing the crops according to pedological and topographic evidence.

About agricultural manuals, gardens and coffee plantations: mosaics and landscape transformation in the Paraiba do Sul Valley, Brazil

Economic cycles have often become the landscape matrix, in a hybrid process of society-nature transformation, leaving distinct legacies in it. The coffee plantation showed great productivity in the Paraíba do Sul Valley to the detriment of forests, resulting in profound changes in geo-hydric cycles. Although the transformation by coffee has been significant on a spatial scale and in environmental changes, the Paraíba do Sul Valley landscape needs to be understood in a broader perspective. There were also other crops in the landscape inside or outside large estates. This work aims to recognize the spatial organization of these cultures and develop an understanding of the pattern of the coffee landscape, showing the performance of different social actors. The methodology consisted of a bibliographic review and analysis of historical agricultural manuals. Spatializing such past activities and social groups in the landscape shows us what was previously hidden, omitted by the traditional historical narrative This research showed that colonial knowledge developed a landscape compartmentalization, spatializing the crops according to pedological and topographic evidence

Bat-fruit networks structure resist habitat modification but species roles change in the most transformed habitats

Species do not function as isolated entities, rather they are organized in complex networks of interactions. These networks develop the ecological processes that provide ecosystem services for human societies. Understanding the causes and consequences of changes in ecological networks due to landscape modification would allow us to understand the consequences of ecological processes. However, there is still few empirical data on the effects of network characteristics on the loss of natural environments. We investigated how bat–fruit networks respond to three landscapes representing the gradient of modification from pre-montane forest to a heterogeneous agricultural landscape in the Colombian Andes (continuous forests, forest fragments, and crops). We found that forest contained smaller bat–fruit networks than forest fragments and crops. Modified landscapes had similar ecological network structures to forest (nestedness and modularity), but crops contained less specialized networks compared to forests and fragments and the species role in these habitats were changed. The networks in the rural coffee landscape maintain their structure in the different transformation scenarios, indicating that seed dispersal services are maintained even in the most transformed scenarios. Although the number of species does not decrease due to transformations, species change their roles in the most transformed habitats. This result sheds light on the way that bat-fruit networks respond to anthropogenic transformations, showing higher stability than theoretically predicted.

Decrease in β‐diversity, but not in α‐diversity, of ants in intensively managed coffee plantations

Abstract Local land‐use intensity and surrounding landscape complexity affect the diversity of local species. Ants are an important biocontrol agent of the coffee berry borer (CBB), the main coffee pest worldwide. Although intensification of coffee production and deforestation in the surrounding landscape may reduce ant diversity, α‐ and β‐diversity patterns of ants in coffee landscapes remain poorly understood. Ants foraging in coffee bushes were sampled, using tuna baits along an agricultural intensification gradient (forest, shaded coffee and sun coffee) in a Neotropical coffee landscape. We evaluated the differences in α and β components of ant richness, community differentiation and habitat specificity of ant communities, in response to land‐use type and the percentage of surrounding forest. We found that ant β‐diversity and community differentiation among plots were significantly reduced with coffee management intensity. The amount of forest border adjacent to coffee plantations did not affect α‐ or β‐diversity. Yet, ant habitat specificity in the forest increased with plots having greater amounts of forest border, although in sun coffee plantations, the opposite was found: plots with greater forest border decreased habitat specificity. We found that conserving forest at landscape scales enhanced β‐diversity, community differentiation and habitat specificity of ants in the forest. Loss of forest cover at landscape scales (i.e. predominance of sun coffee) may lead to biotic homogenisation of ant communities. In conclusion, landscape‐wide ant richness is important in terms of biological CBB control by conservation.

Patchy Anthropocene: Frenzies and Afterlives of Violent Simplifications

Patchy Anthropocene: Frenzies and Afterlives of Violent Simplifications

Gobernanza para la Adaptación basada en Ecosistemas (AbE) para pequeños caficultores de América Central

Introduction. Agricultural practices based on good management of ecosystems are promoted as a good adaptation strategy for the productive activities of coffee smallholder farmers in the Central American region. The dissemination of information on innovations, techniques, instruments, etc. between organizations and producers is key to expand and consolidate the use of these practices. Objective. The objective of this study was to identify the structure of information-dissemination governance that can help expand and consolidate the use of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) practices in agriculture. Materials and methods. Three productive landscapes distributed in three countries (Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica) were analysed, characterized by predominantly small-scale coffee growing farmers. For each of these landscapes, the actors that exchange information between the national scale and the level of the producers were identified. Interviews were conducted to characterize the information flows and their possible relevance to promote EbA in the productive systems of coffee producers. Results. It was identified both key actors and gaps in the network of organizations that inhibit the transmission of information between scales and sectors. In Costa Rica, the capacity for intermediation of information across sectors and scales is spread between State entities and competitive producer organizations. In Honduras, intermediation capacities are distributed among some civil society organizations that work at local levels closely with producers and governmental organizations that work at the national level. In Guatemala, the intermediation capacities are mainly distributed among governmental, civil society and private organizations, mainly at the national level. Conclusion.The analysis of networks in these coffee landscapes suggests that although all three countries have a similar institutionalization of the coffee sector, in two the dissemination of information to promote EbA would benefit at intermediate and local scales to promote learning among producers.

Perceived climate risks and adaptation drivers in diverse coffee landscapes of Uganda

Whereas adaptation to climate variability takes center stage in the agricultural development discourse, implementation is poorly guided through adoption of ‘one-size-fits-all’ adaptation approaches in coffee landscapes. This study empirically provides evidence of diversity of rural coffee farm-households and climate vulnerabilities in Uganda. We specifically characterized farm-household systems in the coffee-based farming systems; identified perceived climate risks; identified generalized landscape-level and specific farm-household system-level adaptation practices; and determined socio-economic drivers that impacted uptake of adaptation practices. 688 farm-households were surveyed and asked what they perceived as major climate risks, and how they adapted to experienced shocks/stresses in Eastern (Arabica) and Central (Robusta) Uganda. Principal Component and Multivariate Cluster Analyses were adopted for farm-household systems identification, and Semi-Nonparametric model for uptake of adaptation practices. Distinct farm-household systems were identified in Central (coffee-maize-beans; coffee-livestock-off-farm) and Eastern Uganda (coffee-banana-maize; coffee-banana; coffee-off-farm). They differed by land allocations to crops, livestock rearing, rainfall/altitude gradients, off-farm activities and crop income. Farm-households experienced food shortages and crop losses resulting from prolonged drought and erratic shifts in rainfall distribution. The major generalized adaptation practice was inorganic fertilizer use while the specific included herbicide use and increase in livestock numbers in Central Uganda; and pesticides use, structural technologies and off-farm activities in Eastern. Adaptation drivers include household-head’s awareness of climate variability and involvement in policy-formulation process (both regions); farm-household’s total land area (Eastern Uganda); and access to input/output markets (Central Uganda). We conclude that policy makers should package adaptation practices per farm-household system to enhance effective adaptation to climate risks.

A comparative study of ant diversity under three coverages in a Neotropical coffee landscape

The coffee cultivation has displaced natural vegetation and its associated biological diversity. The present study describes the diversity of ground-dwelling ants on eight plantations where coffee is grown in the shade (SHD), eight plantations where coffee is grown under unshaded coffee (SUN) and four patches of forest (FOS) in a coffee-growing region of Colombia. The research was conducted in transects composed of 12 sampling stations, each of which employed active collection, pitfall traps and litter sifting. Nine habitat variables were analyzed to characterize each site, and these values were related to the diversity of ants and functional groups. A total of 92 morphospecies were collected. Myrmicinae was the subfamily with the highest representation. The sample coverage presented a deficit of less than 5 %. The rank abundance curves exhibited differences in the ant assemblages. The ant communities found in the forest exhibited greater diversity and a larger number of exclusive species than the communities found in locations of other land uses; the SHD and SUN communities were characterized by 80.3 % and 62.3 %, respectively, of the diversity found in the forest communities. The functional similarity index as adapted for guilds by Sørensen reveals a high degree of similarity in the structure of their ant communities, but less so in their composition.The shaded coffee plantations have a richer and more equitable ant fauna than the exposed coffee plantations, reinforcing the idea that shade cultivation favors the establishment of ant fauna and, consequently, ecological functionality.

Using Google Earth Engine to Map Complex Shade-Grown Coffee Landscapes in Northern Nicaragua

Shade-grown coffee (shade coffee) is an important component of the forested tropics, and is essential to the conservation of forest-dependent biodiversity. Despite its importance, shade coffee is challenging to map using remotely sensed data given its spectral similarity to forested land. This paper addresses this challenge in three districts of northern Nicaragua, here leveraging cloud-based computing techniques within Google Earth Engine (GEE) to integrate multi-seasonal Landsat 8 satellite imagery (30 m), and physiographic variables (temperature, topography, and precipitation). Applying a random forest machine learning algorithm using reference data from two field surveys produced a 90.5% accuracy across ten classes of land cover, with an 82.1% and 80.0% user’s and producer’s accuracy respectively for shade-grown coffee. Comparing classification accuracies obtained from five datasets exploring different combinations of non-seasonal and seasonal spectral data as well as physiographic data also revealed a trend of increasing accuracy when seasonal data were included in the model and a significant improvement (7.8–20.1%) when topographical data were integrated with spectral data. These results are significant in piloting an open-access and user-friendly approach to mapping heterogeneous shade coffee landscapes with high overall accuracy, even in locations with persistent cloud cover.

Agriculture, Anxiety, and Amazonification: Creative Adaptation and Resistance in Risky Rural and Urban Landscapes

Agriculture, Anxiety, and Amazonification: Creative Adaptation and Resistance in Risky Rural and Urban Landscapes

Birds and beans: Comparing avian richness and endemism in arabica and robusta agroforests in India\u2019s Western Ghats

Coffee is a major tropical commodity crop that can provide supplementary habitat for native wildlife. In Asia, coffee production is an increasingly important driver of landscape transformation and shifts between different coffee species is a major dimension of agroforestry trends. Yet few studies have compared the ecological impacts of conversion between different coffee species. We evaluated whether or not the two species of coffee grown globally—Coffea arabica and C. canephora (denoted “robusta”)—had equivalent avian conservation value in the Western Ghats, India, where robusta production has become increasingly dominant. We found that habitat specialist and functional guild diversity was higher in arabica, and that arabica was more profitable. However, robusta farms generally supported the same or slightly higher abundances of habitat specialists and functional guilds, largely due to dense canopy and landscape-level forest cover. Farming practices, chiefly pesticide use, may affect the suitability of coffee agroforests as habitat for avian specialists, and at present, robusta farmers tended to use less pesticide. Given future projections for arabica to robusta conversion in tropical Asia, our study indicates that certification efforts should prioritize maintaining native canopy shade trees and forest cover to ensure that coffee landscapes can continue providing biodiversity benefits.