Coffland Corp: coffee crops

October 25, 2017

What Is Shade-Grown Coffee and How Impacts Your Drink?

Taste a complex flavor due to Mother Nature.

Coffee harvests have evolved. Every day, farmers and producers come up with new techniques to strengthen the beans and improve the flavors of the final product. However, although the quality of coffee is increasing, environmental safety is not. The use of pesticides and genetically altered grains affect the environment.

Because of that, a new generation of farmers has adopted an old but efficient rural system. Here at Coffland Corp, we will teach you how shade-grown crop works, an alternative against genetic modifications which seeks to reach to a more organic and healthy drink.

Shade-grown coffee: what does it mean?

Coffee culture has its up and downs. Due to the substantial increase in coffee consumers in the last century, producers needed to accelerate the growth and harvest of coffee plants. Thus, they used the latest advances in genetics to modify seeds and fortify the properties of coffee. This also involved cutting down trees in rainforests as long as the coffee plants received more sun and more nutrients from the soil.

Although this system worked for a long time, organizations concerned about the environment realized that coffee production had reduced biodiversity in the area surrounding crops. There was no more trees, no more birds and other animals that lived around!

Due to the lack of animal population, farmers had to use chemicals that scared away insects, as there were no natural enemies to defend coffee plantations. After trying various formulas for not sacrificing coffee quality, many opted to use the technique of their ancestors.

The Shade-grown method involves the absence of stimulant chemicals for plants and insecticides. The trees serve as natural filters that regulate the sun and rain for coffee plantations. In this way, plants can grow naturally, without being affected by other external factors.

Benefits of shade-grown coffee

In addition to the obvious environmental benefits, this coffee has a more intense and natural flavor than other crops. Although its price is a little higher, it's worth the cost. The coffee market recognizes that organic coffee is the best way to drink coffee. The properties of the beverage in your cup are not mistreated, because you take something directly brought from the ground, from Mother Nature!

Here at Coffland Corp, we support this type of methods that take care of nature but also doesn't change the flavor of our favorite drink. Would you give it a try? Tell us below!

An ecologic alternative to coffee cropping process without sacrificing the tastiness.

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October 17, 2017

Coffee Berry Disease: How to Take Care of Your Crops

This epidemic happens in all Coffea species.

Controlling every part of the coffee making process is hard. Most of the producers count with a complete staff who take care of the crops and the farmers. But sometimes nature plays against our will and producers must solve some mysteries.

In Kenya, back in the first years of the 20th century, farmers noticed that some coffee berries had small dark sunken spots. However, they collected the affected berries and discovered that the coffee beans were useless. Its properties were too affected, resulting in a lost crop.

This event led to a scientific study that determined a new natural phenomenon called the Coffee Berry Disease. It only affects coffee berries, but the leafs and flowers can be seen with the same dark spots and a pale pink crust on the lesion surface.

The Coffee Berry Disease host is a little bug species who is scientifically known as C. coffeanum. It has more than one specimen, but not all of them are harmful to the coffee plant. This bug lives around the plant, helping to its spreading. However, the C. coffeanum that affects the crop lives actually in the bean, eating it out.

Preventing Coffee Berry Disease

Infection and disease development is influenced by several factors: temperature, moisture, plant parts, and other microorganisms. That's why is so important to regulate the growing of the coffee fruits during its cropping.

Veteran coffee farmers know how to maintain their harvest, but if they neglect them, the consequences in production phase can be fatal. According to last studies, more than the 50% of the crop is lost by the spreading of this disease.

To maintain clean your coffee plants, you can choose between a plague control certified by chemical experts, that prevents the infection. The most effective already in the market are captafol, chlorothalonil, benomyl, thiophanate-methyl, thiabendazole, and dithianon.

Although, it's accepted to protect your future crops by modifying genetically the beans, that way your harvest will be invulnerable.

Another non-chemical alternative is removing the bugs from the plant manually before its get installed on the fruit or even stimulate an early flowering.

Coffee Berry Disease is a common phenomenon on the coffee crop in Africa, but slowly it has been seen in other countries like Hawaii, Guatemala, and Brazil. Don't worry about it! If you have the proper coffee crop management, it won't be a problem for your coffee business. Here at Coffland Corp, we offer you the last tips to prevent these type of anomalies around the coffee world. Keep reading our entries for more info!