Celebrating coffee champions | Yara International

Growing demand for coffee is putting pressure on the earth’s resources. Watch the video and see how Colombian coffee growers and Yara agronomists are working together to increase coffee production and quality in a sustainable way.

Are we heading towards a coffee crisis? If so, how can we avoid that from happening?

In the Conservation International report “Coffee in the 21st century – Will climate change and increased demand lead to new deforestation?” scientists are highlighting that approximately 60 percent of the area suitable for coffee production is covered by natural forest. This lead Huffington Post to report that "our coffee addiction could destroy earth's tropical forests."

R&D, partnerships and field experts

The growing demand for coffee has to be met by increasing the coffee production in a sustainable way. With as many as 85 percent of all coffee growers being smallholder farmers, it is also crucial to improve their livelihood.

Yara has been working systematically to tackle this double challenge for several years. Building on R&D, partnerships and field experts, we are helping coffee farmers to both increase profitability through higher yields and improve quality, while at the same time limiting the negative environmental impact.

Colombia coffee champions

In Colombia we have taken our coffee commitment one step further, celebrating the coffee champions and searching for the best cup of Colombian coffee.

In 2015 we organized the first ever National Cup Quality Competition, gathering more than a hundred coffee farmers. The winners, Fernando Chica and Julio Cesar Madrid, were invited to take part in the Specialty Coffee Association of America Annual Exposition in Atlanta, U.S. – the world’s foremost specialty coffee event – as guests of Yara.

As a result of their efforts, the coffee champions have increased both the volume and the quality, and therefore also their income.