We’re excited to announce that Cafe Imports is now certified to sell Bird Friendly® coffees. Smithsonian scientists created this program in the late 1990s to conserve habitat and protect around 200 species of migratory songbirds that travel from the United States and Canada to settle in Mexico, Central America, South America, or the Caribbean Islands for the winter.
A Bird Friendly coffee farm is committed to maintaining a quality habitat for neotropical migratory birds and other wildlife. These farms are USDA Organic certified and maintain the Smithsonian’s habitat standards, which include a research-backed mix of foliage cover, tree height, and biodiversity. Essentially, these farms are healthy for the environment and help combat climate change, and the coffee is grown under the shade of a tree canopy where migratory birds reside. This certification gives producers a premium for their coffee and farms are recertified every three years. Visit the Smithsonian Bird Friendly site for more information, FAQs, a list of certified farms, and research articles here:
According to the Smithsonian, the bird population in the US and Canada has declined by almost 30%, with habitat loss being one of the largest contributing factors. Also, 75% of the world’s coffee is farmed on lands with no tree canopy. Bird Friendly coffee farms are rehabilitating the Western Hemisphere’s bird population by restoring swaths of tropical forests in ways that are beneficial to all. The canopy trees provide shade for the coffee, biodiversity for healthy soil, a habitat for the birds, and birds help control pests. Research shows that these farms also have a greater diversity of mammals. This system of managing the land is Agroforestry, something that was described to us by members of APCERL, a Bolivian coffee association. For these producers, preserving nature is a sacred act, believing that as they give back to Earth, the Earth provides for them. Agroforestry is a means of making coffee sustainable while providing a habitat for all indigenous life.
Around 4,072 Bird Friendly farmers in 12 countries grow 34 million pounds of coffee annually. The program recently expanded to cocoa, too, to further its impact. Choosing Bird Friendly certified coffees means supporting a more biodiverse, sustainable world. It means that we continue to hear songbirds when they are in their northern homes. It means that we are helping protect important habitats while offering quality, organic, and regenerative coffees.
We are excited to be able to offer Bird Friendly certified coffee and hope you enjoy them as much as we do. We currently offer a lot from Guaya’b Asociacion Civil of Huehuetenango, Guatemala, CAFESCOR in Honduras, and are receiving a lot from APCERL of La Paz, Bolivia, soon. We’re hopeful for more offerings to follow these soon!
