Working together for a better tomorrow

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The only way to create sustainable livelihoods in coffee-growing communities is by working together with partners that share the same commitment to building a better coffee world. This is why we are proud to work alongside Conservation International, a nonprofit working to scale up nature-based solutions to the climate crisis. Through this partnership, we have gathered preliminary findings of our joint research commitment to identify ways the coffee industry can reduce its environmental footprint through carbon sequestration while reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the production process. This research was funded in part by an investment from IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank Group, the data collection focused on the profiles and practices of 19 farms located in Central America.

Employing Mercon’s industry-leading, in-house LIFT, a sustainable production service delivery platform developed in 2014 that provides valuable tools, technical and financial services to coffee farmers and coffee communities, the assessment reviewed the existing LIFT climate-friendly practices and provided recommendations on how to maximize nature-based climate solutions, such as agroforestry and forest conservation.

“The data collection has yielded valuable insights resulting in immediate recommendations to farmers while we continue measuring the climate impact of these farms,” said Giacomo Celi, Sustainability Director at Mercon Coffee Group. “We have estimated, for example, the impact that simple things like increasing tree cover can have on the amount of carbon stored on coffee farms. With this data in hand, we are now able to incentivize farmers to take climate responsible actions in ways that don’t just benefit the planet, but also the individual farmers as well.”

These learnings will lead to worthwhile farm level changes that will have a positive influence on a more climate-friendly harvest, all while teaching farmers new and valuable skills that will help them achieve even more success in the future.

“The real takeaway here is that with the help of the LIFT by Mercon technical services, farmers are lowering carbon emissions by maximizing yields and improving efficiencies, and they can link their efforts to preserve the natural habitats and forests surrounding their crops to value chain incentive mechanisms.”, said Giacomo.

The research program will continue into the next scale-up phase, guided by Mercon’s LIFT team of agronomists. This will allow for the continued and thorough evaluation of existing practices, new areas of intervention, data collection methodologies, and rewarding mechanisms all of which aim not only to create more sustainable and climate-friendly practices but also help to enrich the lives of farmers and their families while doing so.