Coffee Farm

Precision agriculture is applied to reduce fertilizer CO2 footprint by combining newest yield estimate methods for fertilizer planning and using fertigation.

• Reduce 1’300 t of CO2-eq p.a.  
• avoid emissions of 1’800 t CO2-eq p.a. 

Promotion of beneficial insects, preserving various natural habitats for beneficials (e.g. birds, parasitoid insects, entomophagous fungi), cultivation of resistant coffee varieties, setting up trials for replacing synthetic pesticides by introducing biological control agents 

• Promotion of beneficials
• Preservation of natural habitats (forests, Dambos, transitional vegetation)
• Introduction of resistant
  coffee varieties
   

Mulching, incorporation of manure and compost, targeted plant nutrition based on soil and leave samples, precision application of plant nutrition, light tractors and equipment to avoid soil compaction and erosion, brachiaria cover-crop from Brazil with high C/N ratio between the coffee rows used for mulching into the coffee rows, increase organic matter production from by-products and leaf litter

• Planting Brachiaria as cover crop 
• Mulching of grass to build soil organic matter 
• Adding compost and manure 
• Introduction of light tractors 
• No till
   

State-of-the-art irrigation system allowing precision application only in the coffee rows (not in the inter-rows), reducing run-off, evaporation and increasing water-use efficiency, processing plant uses recycled water, wastewater purification, safe 35% of the water by using special nozzles 

• Reducing water requirement by 35%
   

Recycling of 100% of the by-products in the coffee production, upcycling the waste for usage in coffee fields or as cattle fodder, omit methane emission through coffee waste management. Immediate waste recycling is applied to eradicate methane emissions from the processing.

• Avoid 5 kg CO2-eq/kg green coffee through waste re- cycling
   

Harnessing solar energy to generate power, combine PV-power with irrigation system, avoid CO2 emissions from alternative energy production (e.g. diesel powered back-up generator), conserve energy by using 30% less energy for irrigation by using LEPA nozzles

• 90 kW renewable energy capacity installed
• 72’600 kWh renewable energy produced annually 
• 57 t of greenhouse gas avoided annually 

Substituting of harmful practices such as poaching and logging with environmentally friendly income activities (honey production) which sustain forests and ecosystems, top-bar beehives from sustainable materials 

• Honey processing facility installed 
• Beehives set-up
• Knowledge transferred to
  beekeepers 
• Forest protected
   

Protection of 605 hectares are of Miombo forest and Dambo wetlands in their original state. These are High Conservation Value (HCV) and High Carbon Stock (HCS) areas and create ecosystem value.
for irrigation by using LEPA nozzles.      

• Protecting a carbon storage of more than 20’000 tons of CO2-eq. 
• Net sequestration of 800 tons of CO2-eq. over the next 20 years