What is organic coffee all about?
For a coffee to be certified as organic, it must be grown without the use of herbicides or pesticides, and have been grown using only certified organic based fertilizers. A farm must have done these things for 3 to 5 years, depending on the certifier who monitors the applicant each year. Additionally it cannot be contaminated by the practices of adjoining farms. Organic certification is tremendously costly to get, especially nowadays, with coffee prices selling at historic lows. Farmers have often misunderstood the organic market as their ticket out of penury, rather than a custodial issue towards the earth, which may or may not reward economically. Quality has often suffered. Periodically, as more farmers fill demand for organic coffees and the market becomes saturated, prices fall and the farmer ends up back at the starting gate.
