The Shade Catalog: How Agroforestry Will Impact Coffee Cultivation

Agroforestry Systems: A Sustainable Approach to Coffee Cultivation

Agroforestry systems are widely promoted as environmentally friendly cultivation methods that integrate trees and shrubs in the same area. This approach not only provides shade for sun-sensitive crops and for the soil but also protects and enhances biodiversity, attracts pollinating insects, and improves soil quality.

However, as extensive research on coffee land management has shown, not all situations are the same everywhere.

The Shade Catalog: A Collaborative Initiative

To help identify and distinguish shade plant species for coffee cultivation, three sustainability-minded non-profit organizations (Conservation International, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and World Coffee Research) have jointly launched The Shade Catalog. The catalog is designed to benefit both coffee growing environments and coffee producers.

For the first version of the catalog, the working group focused on Indonesia, the world's largest producer of both Arabica and Robusta beans. Indonesia has approximately 2 million small-scale coffee farmers and is one of the world's most naturally biodiverse regions.

Conservation International, the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, and World Coffee Research have stated that this catalog, named the "Indonesian Coffee Catalog," will be continuously updated. Similar catalogs will subsequently be launched in other major coffee-producing countries, with Peru being their next target for 2022.

Expert Perspectives on Sustainable Coffee Cultivation

"We hope to encourage farmers and industry decision-makers to adopt agroforestry systems to balance the relationship between people and the environment," said Ruth Bennett, an ecologist at the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center. "Coffee is a unique crop because it can be grown alongside trees, benefiting the climate, biodiversity, and farmers' livelihoods. This catalog serves as a starting point for similar work in coffee-growing regions around the world."

Practical Applications and Technical Details

From a practical perspective, this catalog, like the groundbreaking Arabica coffee variety catalog launched by World Coffee Research, provides essential information about all commercially known coffee varieties worldwide.

Currently the catalog contains information about tree species found in Indonesian coffee cultivation systems. Tree species accounts were compiled through interviews with farmer groups and agroforestry experts, as well as by gathering data from scientific publications and technical reports in both English and Indonesian. The data includes plant scientific names, leaf sizes, plant heights, cultivation altitudes, native and non-native habitats, and other technical details. The catalog also identifies whether particular trees and shrubs have positive impacts on Robusta or Arabica cultivation, while summarizing their uses and maintenance requirements.

The catalog includes essential information on 125 coffee or shrub species, but is currently available only in print and online versions in English or Indonesian.

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

Indonesia is precisely where this Shade Catalog begins, and shade-grown cultivation is central to why the country's coffees taste the way they do. If the catalog has you curious about Indonesian coffee, FrontStreet Coffee's range is a good place to start. The FrontStreet Indonesia Mandheling comes from the Toba Lake area of the Lintong region and is processed by the local wet-hulled method, in which the parchment is removed while the beans are still half-dry, giving the cup its characteristic herbal and spice notes; roasted medium-dark, it is low in acidity, full-bodied, and rich with caramel, dark chocolate, and toasted bread.

For the top of the range, the FrontStreet PWN Golden Mandheling is graded for density, size, shape, and color, then screened mechanically and hand-sorted to remove defects, yielding tamarind, herbal, spice, roasted hazelnut, caramel, and dark chocolate flavors with a clean, mellow finish.