Shade-grown coffee

About

Shade-grown coffee is a form of crop produced from coffee plants grown under a canopy of trees.A canopy of assorted types of shade trees is created to cultivate shade-grown coffee. This method allows shade-grown coffee systems to mimic natural forest conditions, and also promotes ecological interactions. Increased canopy cover in coffee systems has been shown to enhance biodiversity and support conservation efforts.

Shade-grown coffee systems can improve soil stability, reduce erosion, and enhance water retention, compared to full-sun systems. Further, shade-grown systems can also contribute to climate change mitigation, as it supports carbon storage and reduces deforestation.

Because it incorporates principles of natural ecology to promote natural ecological relationships, shade-grown coffee can be considered an offshoot of agricultural permaculture or agroforestry. The resulting coffee can be marketed as "shade-grown".

Text from the Wikipedia article Shade-grown coffee by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0.