Rainforest Alliance Certified Coffee
An alternative to organic coffee certification is for a grower to be Rainforest Alliance certified. The Rainforest Alliance is a non-governmental organization that works to conserve biodiversity. It does so for agricultural products by influencing consumers to buy what is good for the environment and good for small farmers. Rainforest Alliance certified means that the coffee that you buy was produced using good land use practices. Rainforest Alliance certified coffee is part of a broader sustainable agriculture program of tropical crops, including coffee, bananas, cocoa, oranges, cut flowers, ferns, and tea. Certified coffee farms meet a strict set of environmental standards that include preservation of the ecosystem and reduction in use of synthetic chemicals of all sorts. In addition, strict health and safety requirements are part of getting Rainforest Alliance certified. The Rainforest Alliance works with the Sustainable Agriculture Network which is a group that includes conservation organizations in nine countries in Latin America. These organizations work to increase and maintain sustainable agricultural practices. On the other end of the coffee spectrum Rainforest Alliance works to convince consumers and to buy Rainforest certified products and works to have businesses buy from certified farmers and sell to the public.
Criteria to Become Rainforest Alliance Certified
The process of getting certified by Rainforest Alliance is similar to getting UTZ Certified. Growers start by achieving partial success and grow into the eventual requirements. Rainforest Alliance requires that coffee growers meet half of the criteria for any given area of concern to start with and meet eighty percent of requirements overall. These criteria include ecosystem preservation, safety of wild animals, watershed conservation, fair hiring and labor practices, appropriate safety measures for workers, and strict adherence to agrochemical use standards. An additional feature of this program is the prohibition of genetically modified crops.
Does Rainforest Alliance Certified Mean That Your Coffee is Organic Coffee?
To the extent that Rainforest Alliance certified means that your coffee was grown according to organic farming practices, yes, this is typically healthy organic coffee. However, organic coffee certification by the USDA is too expensive for many growers and they forego the process even while they produce organic coffee year after year. It is an all too common story throughout Central America and the coffee growing regions of Colombia that a grower pays his $500 a year to get Bio Latina organic coffee certification or certification by another agency on behalf of the USDA. The grower passes inspection and pays his dues every year. He does not change his farming practices as he has always produced organic coffee. However, he does not get any new buyers and he does not get any new buyers who pay more because his product now has organic certification. After a few years he quits paying the $500 a year as the extra expense was not a reasonable investment. Such a coffee farmer may well chose to be Rainforest Alliance certified or UTZ certified as in each case he believes that the certifying agency is helping him connect to the market for organic coffee and helping him sell his organic product at a price consistent with its increased value as organic coffee.
The Legal Definition of Organic Food
In order to be “certified organic,” products must be grown and manufactured in a way that abides by the standards set by the country they are sold in and those “standards” do vary from country to country.
When you see a label that says “certified organic,” that means that the way in which the food was grown and processed met the standards set by the government of the United States. You will see labels that simply say “organic.” This label doesn’t really mean very much unless you could know what country’s standards was used to produce the food. In many countries, the standards for organic products are considerably lower than they are in America.
In order for the products produced on a farm or ranch in the United States to be “certified organic,” the farm or ranch must have met some very, very tough standards. The farmer or rancher must also have paid some pretty substantial fees. It really isn’t quite as simple as it sounds.
Basically, from the point of view of the consumer, organic food means that the food was raised without using toxic fertilizers, pesticides, or drugs. You might think of the tomatoes that you grow in your backyard without the use of commercial fertilizers or pesticides are “organic,” and basically they are, but they don’t meet the standards set by the U.S. government to be “certified organic.”
I’m not telling you not to raise those “organic” vegetables in your backyard garden. Of course, you should. They won’t be covered with all kinds of harmful chemicals, and that is much better for you and your family. But if you want to set up a fruit stand on the corner and sell your overflow, you can say that the produce is organic – but you cannot say that it is “certified organic” because it isn’t.
The Cost of Organic Food
It’s an accepted fact that organic food costs more than food raised using conventional farming techniques. I’m not sure, however, that this additional cost is actually warranted. That doesn’t mean, though, that we won’t continue to pay more for food that is “certified organic.” We will.
The reason given for the higher price of organic food is that raising food using organic methods is more labor intensive and that there is less production per acre. Maybe. But I kind of think that prices are governed more by the supply vs. demand equation than any other factor.
If a miracle happened and the market was suddenly flooded with “certified organic” food, the price would drop like a rock. If there was more supply than demand, the price that could be charged would become much more competitive and would decrease. That’s just the way the world works.
Of course, that miracle isn’t likely to happen anytime in the foreseeable future. Only 2% of the land in the whole world is dedicated to producing food using organic farming and ranching techniques. More that 2% of the world’s population demands organic food, and the number is growing larger by the day.
But supply and demand is a one-way street. When demand increases, it’s a pretty good bet that supply is going to increase as well. When supply catches up or surpasses demand, organically grown food will get cheaper. That’s probably not going to happen anytime soon.
So, I pay more for organic food. I will continue to do so. The fact is, I’d rather give the money to the producers of the organic food than to give it to the doctors to try to cure me of whatever was caused by all that pesticide residue that’s on fruits and vegetables and heaven-knows-what kind of antibiotics and growth hormones are in meat and dairy products.
Cold Weather Threat Raises Coffee Prices
Expect to see the price of your cup of coffee raise dramatically if it freezes in Brazil where a third of the world’s coffee is produced. As cold weather raises coffee prices, North Americans may be surprised at the thought of a South American nation having genuine cold spells. But remember that if you go far enough south you get to the South Pole! The largest coffee growing region in Brazil is really two adjacent areas, Morgiana and Sul Minas. In both regions coffee is grown at elevation. This general region is in the South of Brazil. The equator passes through the north of Brazil. However, the southern tip of the country is as far south of the equator as Florida is north. Frost is an occasional risk to Florida orange growers and that is essentially at sea level. Now add the reduced temperature of higher altitude. Thus there is at, at times, a risk of frost in the largest coffee growing region of Brazil and when this happens, as it threatens to do now, the cold weather threat raises coffee prices. The concern of buyers is that coffee production will fall creating relative scarcity. Current coffee futures on the New York Commodities Exchange, NYMEX, are $1.44 a pound for July delivery and $1.50 for December delivery. The March 2015 delivery price is $1.59 a pound. The futures markets are expecting the price of coffee to go up.
Other Reasons for High Coffee Prices
Although Brazil produces a third of the coffee in the world, the combined nations of Central America plus Mexico and Brazil approach the production volume of Brazil. A major concern in this extended coffee growing region is coffee leaf rust. We discussed this problem as it relates to producing healthy organic coffee and noted that many organic growers may need to spray their plants and lose their certification in order to avoid being wiped out. However, even regular coffee growers run the risk of lower production and extensive crop damage even with the use of standard commercial measures to control the blight. As a cold weather threat raises coffee prices so does the risk of hard to control plant disease.
Demand as Well as Supply Drives Coffee Prices
A recent survey found that coffee consumption in the USA rose from 78 percent of adults last year to 83 percent this year. Although the USA is leading consumer of coffee it is nowhere near the top of the list in coffee consumed per capita. The USA ranks number 12 with 4.2 kilograms of coffee consumed per capita. The leaders are Finland at 12 kilos per capita, Norway at 9.9 kilos, Iceland at 9 kilos, Denmark at 8.7 kilos, and the Netherlands at 8.4 kilos per capita. The Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, and a dozen or more other nations all rank ahead of the USA in kilograms of coffee consumed every year per capita. More folks drinking more coffee every year drive up the price of coffee, especially as a cold weather threat raises coffee prices as well.
The Bright Future for Organic Food
It’s been a long time coming, but this year more organic food will be produced than any year to date! It isn’t difficult to see why we are beginning to win this war. It all comes down to money – the almighty dollar. It’s simply becoming more profitable to farm and ranch using organic methods than it is to farm or ranch using conventional methods.
Farmers and ranchers can add and subtract. The fact is that those chemical fertilizers that they put on their crops cost money. (Fertilizer from compost piles is free, and so is the fertilizer from organically fed animal waste.) Those toxic pesticides cost money, too. (The good bugs that eat the bad bugs are free, too.) There’s a cheaper way, and that way is by using organic methods. Farmers and ranchers have discovered what we’ve been “preaching” for years – the land will stay more fertile, and it will produce more and better crops, if natural products are used.
Then there’s the little fact that those farmers and ranchers can get more money for organically produced food than they can for food that is produced using conventional methods. I told you they could add and subtract.
It is still difficult and costly for farms and ranches to be “certified” organic by the government. We don’t want the standards to be relaxed, but we are working toward making the process of being certified a little simpler and a little less costly.
Meanwhile, we can celebrate. There will be more organic food produced on more farms and ranches worldwide this year than there was last year. We believe that there will be more produced next year than this year. The future for organic food is indeed bright and getting brighter all the time.
Lose Weight with Green Coffee Beans
A recent study reports that a group of overweight volunteers lost a significant amount of weight by taking a gram of green coffee bean extract daily for five months. Without any change to their diets or exercise regimen the volunteers were able to lose weight with green coffee beans as the only addition to their lives. Researchers reported that there were no unwanted side effects such as elevation of blood pressure or heart rate in the study volunteers. On the average each person lost ten pounds. Evidence of weight loss with green coffee beans is just one more fact added to the list of benefits of regular and healthy organic coffee.
Health Benefits of Coffee
For some time we have known that antioxidants in black organic coffee and regular coffee can reduce the cell damage that occurs with aging and retard the damage of atherosclerosis related inflammation. Drinking coffee appears to reduce the incidences of various cancers and cut the incidence of Type II diabetes in half. Now we see that you can also lose weight with green coffee beans. Here are a couple of snapshots of the health benefits of coffee
More Organic Coffee Can Lead to Less Diabetes
More organic coffee can lead to less diabetes. Drinking organic coffee reduces the incidence of Type II diabetes, the type that affects 95% of people with the disease. This has been known for some years but until recently no one really knew why. Now researchers at UCLA have found what may be the reason. It turns out that there is a protein called sex hormone-binding globulin. Its normal job is to regulate sex hormone activity in the human body. Researchers have long suspected that the same hormone has an effect on the development of Type II diabetes. How does organic coffee come into the picture? Drinking coffee increases the body’s levels of sex hormone-binding globulin. The end result is that steady coffee consumption over the years cuts the risk of this disease in half.
Drinking Organic Coffee Reduces Prostatic Cancer Risk
Recently released research reveals that drinking organic coffee reduces prostate cancer risk. In a just published study in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute shows that 47,911 men were followed from 1986 to 2006. During that time 5,035 developed prostate cancer including 642 cases of lethal prostate cancer, fatal or metastatic. Researchers compared men who drank six or more cups of coffee a day to those who did not drink coffee. The incidence of total prostate cancers per 100,000 person-years was 425 for the six a day coffee drinkers and 519 for those who did not drink coffee. The comparison for lethal cancers per 100,000 person years was 34 to 79. This study noted that the data applies to all coffee, including decaf. Thus drinking organic coffee reduces prostate cancer. Those drinking six or more cups a day had a nearly twenty percent reduction in risk of getting any form of prostate cancer. The same coffee drinkers had a 57% reduction in their risk of developing a lethal prostate cancer! Prior to seeing the results researchers believed that drinking coffee in general and drinking organic coffee reduces prostate cancer risk. This assumption was based on the fact that coffee contains caffeine as well as phenolic acids, the scientific term for organic coffee antioxidants. Similar results are seen for liver cancer, endometrial cancer, and possible colon cancer. Lose weight with green coffee beans and improve your chances of avoiding a whole host of bad diseases with a few cups of coffee every day.
The Benefits of Eating Organic
How would you like to be healthier tomorrow than you are today and do nothing more dramatic than change where and from whom you purchase the food you eat? The obvious answer is, “tell me how.”
Changing eating habits, whether the objective is to lose weight or for other health advantages, is usually a painful process. You must “give up” something that you like in order to achieve whatever results you are seeking. The fact is, though, that it really is possible to gain a great many health benefits by doing nothing more than changing where and from whom you purchase you groceries.
It is absolutely true that foods produced using organic methods cost more than foods produced using conventional methods. There’s no doubt about it, and I’m not arguing that fact. But wouldn’t you rather pay a little more for the food that you eat than pay the doctor to treat you because the food you ate was loaded with toxic substances? The old saying, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” applies here.
Organically grown produce has much more trace minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants in it than conventionally grown produce. That fact is not in dispute by anybody. Not only is organically grown produce better for you, but it doesn’t pose the dangers posed by conventionally grown produce, either. There are no toxic chemicals in or on organic produce – NONE! On conventionally raised produce, however, there are lots of chemicals that Mother Nature never meant for human consumption. Oh, the government sets “guidelines.” The levels of these toxins must be at or below a specific level that somebody somewhere deemed safe.
Do you know what’s in that beef you’re eating? I mean besides beef. There are antibiotics and growth hormones in it if it was raised using conventional ranching methods. There are none of those unhealthy substances in beef that was raised using organic methods, and that goes for chicken and all of the products that come from animals – cheese, cream, eggs, etc.
Yes indeed! There are many, many benefits from eating organic!
Should Children Eat Organic?
Should children eat organic? That really seems to be a silly question if you have even a few of the facts concerning the toxins that are in nonorganically produced food. The first area of concern is that the “safe” level of certain chemicals in our food supply is based entirely upon what is considered “safe” for a human adult. There are simply no guidelines available for what is “safe” for children.
There aren’t many parents out there that would deliberately allow their children to be exposed to, say, cigarette smoke. Why? The reason is because the parents know that cigarette smoke is harmful to the child’s health. These same parents wouldn’t dream of letting their kids wade in a drainage ditch for the same reason. And yet, these very same parents who are really concerned about protecting their children’s health will buy fruits and vegetables that have been raised using some of the most toxic substances on earth. They will buy and serve meats that have been produced using antibiotics and growth hormones. It’s mind-boggling.
There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever that when children eat food that has not been produced using organic methods, they are exposed to hundreds of times more toxic chemicals than those children who eat organically produced food.
Most of the tests that were done by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set acceptable risk levels for pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables were done using 154-pound adult men, not 40-pound preschoolers or 10-pound infants.
Dozens, maybe hundreds or thousands of tests have been done, and they all confirm that children who eat organic food have lower levels of toxins in their systems than children who do not eat organic. So the answer is, YES, children should eat organic – no question about it!
Decaf Coffee Risk
Many choose to drink decaf coffee in order to avoid the stimulus of caffeine. Many may still be concerned about high blood pressure, although it has been shown than regular coffee and healthy organic coffee of the regular kind do not raise blood pressure in the long run. The concern today with a decaf coffee risk is that decaf coffee contains greater of two substances which are known to elevate cholesterol. Although kahweol and cafestol are both removed by coffee filters, not everyone uses a paper filter when brewing coffee. (Think French Press or the cloth bag used in many Latin American households through which boiling water is poured over ground coffee.) The two substances, kahweol and cafestol, are diterpenes, and they have been found to raise low density cholesterol and triglycerides by as much as twenty percent. The flip side of this concern is that the two substances also seem to have anti-cancer properties. Considering that coffee consumption is known to reduce the risk of liver, prostate, colon, and endometrial cancer, it cannot be all bad. So, is there decaf coffee risk with higher cholesterol levels? There is no long term risk that we know of for increased heart disease with regular or decaf coffee.
Losing the Benefits of Caffeine
While regular and organic coffee antioxidants are known to be beneficial, it appears that caffeine itself brings about a number of positive health effects for coffee drinkers. The issue for coffee drinkers may not so much be one of avoiding higher cholesterol as missing out on the health benefits of caffeine. And, many folks drink coffee because it wakes them up and gives them a boost to start the day or continue at a productive level near quitting time. Cut out the caffeine and you cut out what is the best part of drinking coffee for many people.
No Change in Mortality
When researchers look at the risk of dying as related to coffee drinking, decaf coffee risk and regular coffee risk come out the same. There is no greater risk of dying if you drink coffee than if you do not. There are no long term studies comparing organic coffee consumption to regular or decaf regular coffee consumption as regards life expectancy or earlier death. Considering the number of impurities that one avoids by drinking certified organic coffee this may be a useful thing to do. There are as many as 150 unwanted chemical in regular coffee that are not found in organic coffee according to health authorities in Australia. Although high doses of pesticides are lethal and moderate doses of pesticides are known to produce a variety of bad results, there is no clear evidence of just how much damage is done by drinking regular coffee with pesticides added versus organic coffee from places like Costa Rica, Colombia, or Panama. Meanwhile if you are interested in great coffee, organically grown, consider Colombian organic coffee brands, Panama Mountain grown organic coffee, or organic coffee from Costa Rica. You will enjoy your coffee and you will not have to worry about a decaf coffee risk.
Leaf Rust Kills Organic Coffee Crops
A seemingly eternal threat to growing healthy organic coffee is a fungus that is native to the tropics where coffee is grown. Leaf rust attacks coffee crops and leaf rust kills organic coffee crops. If an organic grower is unable to treat the problem with non-chemical means he risks losing his crop and his livelihood. The fungus’ proper name is Hemileia vastatrix. When it is not controlled the disease kills coffee plants and reduces coffee growers to poverty. It starts as an orange to yellow somewhat powdery discoloration on the underside of the leave of the coffee plant. It begins as spots, less than a millimeter in diameter and grows to millimeters diameter with a pale yellow discoloration. It is known among Latin American coffee growers as “roya.” The issue for organic growers is that quarantine and destruction of individual plants is not always effective. Thus a grower who has put the time, effort, and money into getting organic coffee certification may lose everything unless he turns his back on organic practices and spays the heck out of his coffee plants. Then he can only sell his produce at regular coffee prices and not the higher prices that good quality organic coffee commands. If he loses his crop he needs to replant, probably after spraying the soil, and wait several years for new coffee plants to reach maturity.
Why Not Just Spray?
Before organic coffee became popular growers use a copper based chemical to retard the growth of coffee leaf rust. Then they switched to other synthetic fungicides. One of the older complaints, before folks worried about being poisoned by chemicals, was the copper treatment and others affected taste and produced a product that did not sell well nor command a good price. As leaf rust kills organic coffee crops today this is still an issue. A grower could decide to treat with a modern fungicide and save his coffee crop. He would then try to sell his coffee beans and hope that the treatment did not devalue his product compared to regular coffee. Then he would need to resume organic farming practices and wait the usual three years until he is certified to have avoided non-organic techniques long enough to be certified again.
Follow the Money
As leaf rust kills organic coffee crops the issue, as always, is money. Starbucks, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, and many others have gotten into organic coffee in a big way. This movement has been good for the small grower and good for the environment and good for coffee drinkers who get a better cup of coffee. It has always been about pressure from consumers who want to avoid impurities in their coffee and who want to protect the environment. What will these buyers do if their hand-picked growers need to spray to stay alive? Will they create a middle category of treated coffee? Growers will not stay with the organic movement if they constantly need to recertify and do not get the rewards of better pay for their coffee each and every year. At some point buyers and consumers may need to adopt the practical approaches that farmers have used for years and accept spraying when it is necessary to keep the sources of good coffee alive.