Yara, JDE Peet's and ofi join forces to harvest the first crop of low-carbon Robusta coffee

Companies have joined forces in a project to boost carbon emission reductions and productivity in conilon coffee plantations in Espírito Santo and Bahia.

Yara, JDE Peet's and ofi – three giants in the areas of coffee nutrition, roasting and origination, respectively – joined forces a year ago in a project aimed at making Robusta coffee production more climate-resilient.

“We need a resilient producer with an economically viable activity,” says Bruno Ribeiro, responsible sourcing manager at JDE Peet's. “Only then will they remain in the business, producing coffee responsibly for us to buy and roast for our local and international brands,” he adds.

The project, focused on Robusta coffee, includes 20 farms in southern Bahia and Espírito Santo. Together, the three companies selected properties to implement a coffee plot with nutritional management using fertilizers from the Yara Climate Choice portfolio, whose manufacturing process has a carbon footprint up to 90% lower than that of conventional fertilizers. “We want to promote more sustainable, low-carbon coffee farming, but this has to be profitable for the producer, otherwise the project won't be viable,” says Francielle Bertotto, sustainability and food chain manager at Yara Brazil.

The partnership works as follows: Yara provides the low-carbon nutritional technology and technical support and data collection in the field; ofi also contributes technical assistance and commits to purchasing this low-carbon coffee, and JDE Peet's, in turn, buys this coffee originating from ofi.

Furthermore, ofi and JDE Peet's subsidize coffee growers to purchase fertilizers from the Yara Climate Choice portfolio, which have a higher average price than conventional fertilizers. However, the producer is not obligated to sell this coffee to ofi – it's an option, if it's advantageous for them.

The main objective of the project, whose first harvest began at the end of June, is to serve as a showcase for farmers to understand that managing with differentiated products can generate a gain of up to 7.6 more bags per hectare, in addition to reducing the carbon footprint of coffee by about 40%.

This is because nitrogen fertilizers are the biggest culprits in greenhouse gas emissions on a coffee farm – accounting for about 2/3 of emissions. But they are not the only ones, as fuel for machinery such as tractors, harvesters, and on-farm transport, among others, also factor into the total.

The project also includes knowledge transfer through rural technical assistance. It's no coincidence that Yara and OFI's field teams have been training producers in fertigation. "Conilon coffee growing areas are very dependent on water for production. If coffee growers don't have efficient irrigation, the activity is truly threatened," explains Francielle.

Rafael Sol and his wife, Daiane, are beneficiaries of the project. Owners of the Vitória farm, with 40 hectares of conilon coffee in Eunápolis (BA), they already had a long-standing partnership with OFI, which assisted them in implementing Rainforest certification. "It was a drastic change," commented Sol.

After this, subsequent changes were easier. “Today, I have on-farm microorganism production, and for the past three years I've only used biological insecticides,” says the producer and agricultural engineer. “The issue of sustainability is coming along with our changes, but I do the math to see if the technology is more efficient and less expensive,” he explains.

From the Yara, OFI, and JDE Peet's project, Sol hasn't yet harvested coffee. "But my manager, who tours the entire farm, said that the coffee plantations in the project area [9.5 hectares] are noticeably better, with more beautiful, better-formed beans," he says. "I joined the project because of the carbon footprint. It's a global trend. I see the possibility of winning new clients because of this differentiating factor," he adds.

For Yara, ofi, and JDE Peet's, the project involves promoting the adaptation of Robusta coffee producers to climate change and, in this way, helping them to remain in the business. "The three companies share this common goal: to support the producer, promote decarbonized and more sustainable coffee farming, bringing efficient solutions," says Eduardo Sampaio, sustainability supervisor at ofi.

The project also contributes to a larger goal: achieving carbon neutrality (Net Zero) by 2050 for the three companies involved. This commitment implies both reducing direct and indirect energy emissions, as well as emissions in the value chain (the agricultural phase).