Is Your Coffee Bird-Friendly?
Look for this Bird Friendly label on your coffee package!
Finding ethical and environmentally friendly coffee can seem impossible, but I'm here to help. In this post, I explain my favorite sustainability certification for coffee: Smithsonian's Bird Friendly coffee label.
What is Bird Friendly Coffee?
Smithsonian's Migratory Bird Center created the Bird Friendly Coffee certification as the gold standard for coffee farming. While many traditional coffee farms are monocultures with little diversity, Bird Friendly farms house a wide variety of foliage, including ample shade cover. Bird Friendly coffee is also socially sustainable because it allows growers to increase their prices and earn more for their crops.
Bottom Line: Bird Friendly certified coffee meets strict sustainability standards set by Smithsonian.
How are Bird Friendly farms different?
Typical modern coffee farms consist of densely packed coffee bushes in full sunlight. They require loads of fertilizers, pesticides and water. These single-crop monocultures strip soils of nutrients, contribute to pesticide and fertilizer pollution and are susceptible to disease and drought.
On the other hand, Smithsonian requires Bird Friendly coffee farms to keep shade-grown coffee bushes (see image below). Shade-grown coffee farms are highly diverse polycultures consisting of more than one plant type. In polycultures, pests have more natural predators and plants give and take a wider variety of nutrients from the soil. These biological differences make the ecosystems more resilient to disease and drought and allow farmers to use fewer pesticides and fertilizers.
Image credit: Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute
The Bird Friendly certification also requires coffee farms to be organic. Being organic not only promotes a healthier ecosystem, but it is also socially sustainable. Instead of investing the time and money needed to obtain a separate organic certification, farmers can simply get the two-in-one Bird Friendly label.
All these criteria make a huge difference in ecosystem composition. On average, conventional coffee farms are home to 61 bird species, while Bird Friendly farms are home to 243 bird species. Bird Friendly coffees are truly a great option for those looking for environmentally and socially sustainable coffee.
Bottom Line: Bird Friendly coffee grows in organic polycultures, which require fewer pesticides and fertilizers and are socially sustainable
Who sells Bird Friendly coffee?
Bird Friendly coffee is available at some (but not many) stores across the U.S. You can use Smithsonian’s retailer map to find your nearest location. If stores near you do not sell Bird Friendly coffee, you can order it online directly from the roaster or your nearest retailer. Nearly 30 brands sell Bird Friendly coffee in a wide variety of roasts, so there are plenty of options!