Resources

Things you can do:

• Download Kiss the Ground’s Guide for making conscious purchasing decisions

• Download the Rodale Institute’s The Power of the Plate - The Case for Regenerative Organic Agriculture in Improving Human Health

• Start or continue Composting (watch the video below if you need convincing)

What is Regenerative Organic Agriculture and what are its benefits?

“A truly regenerative agriculture is one in which all the natural resources we use to produce food get renewed in the process of using them.” – Fred Kirschenmann

Biodynamic is Regenerative Farming and it's a way of growing food that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystems. It aims to capture carbon in the soil and above ground in the plants. It offers increased yields, resilience to climate instability, and better health and vitality for farming communities as well as for the people who eat the food that is grown.

Healthy Soil

Enhancing the soil’s beneficial microbes increases its natural fertility and reduces the risk of pests and diseases

Healthy Plants

Cultivating healthy, hardy, nutrient-dense plants produces coffee that is bursting with flavor

Healthy People

Growing and consuming clean coffee - free from chemical contaminants - improves human vitality

Biodiversity - It starts in the soil

Biodynamic Agriculture views the farm as a living ecosystem that maintains its health and vitality from the living dynamics of the farm. Integrating livestock, building compost, and utilizing cover crops generate on-farm fertility and return nitrogen to the soil. Biodynamic Farmers also set aside at least 10% of the total farm acreage for biodiversity – riparian zones, wetlands, grasslands, and forests. These practices are considered an integral part of the life of the farm. They result in and depend on healthy, vibrant soil full of microbial life.

But, while healthy soil has a positive impact on agricultural yields, water conservation, pest and disease outbreaks, today soil degradation poses a threat to more than 40% of the Earth’s land surfaces. Let’s be clear, there is no food security without healthy soil.

The good news is that your support for Regenerative Farming is reversing this trend. Read more at Scientific American, "How Dirt Could Help Save the Planet"

Sequestering Carbon – It's not complicated

Among all the carbon removal solutions, both natural and engineered, Regenerative Farming has the lowest cost per ton and one of the highest carbon removal potentials (up to five billion tons of CO2 per year)*. According to the Rodale Institute, switching to Regenerative Organic Farming could sequester more than 100% of the world’s annual CO2 emissions. And the French 0.4% Initiative advocates that increasing the world’s agricultural soil organic matter (carbon) by just 0.4% will halt the annual increase of atmospheric CO2.

In addition, the soil’s ability to hold water has an immediate and direct effect on crop failure, erosion, floods, droughts, and desertification. Every 1% increase of organic matter improves the soil’s ability to retain 20,000 to 70,000 gallons of water. Allowing the soil to better absorb water also replenishes underground aquifers. This is one reason why soils richer in carbon are more resilient to the impacts of extreme weather such as drought.

Social Responsibility – It's about people

We believe that fair trade is best captured through personal relationships based on respect and mutual support. We develop partnerships with producers through origin visits and in solidarity with family-run farms and cooperatives. We are committed to paying our coffee farmers a price that allows them to live well and to invest in and protect the ecology & biodiversity of their land so that they can focus on producing the very best coffee in the world for you.

By diversifying crops, improving yields and reducing input needs (e.g., pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers), Regenerative Farming results in a more financially stable production system for farmers and laborers. Reducing chemical inputs also limits carcinogenic, respiratory, and other health problems.

Of course, social responsibility extends to our customers as well. Our Biodynamic Coffee is 3rd-party tested in a lab for mold (mycotoxins), heavy metals and other biological contaminants. When combined with the Regenerative Farming practices and 100% compostable packaging, it underscores our commitment to providing you the cleanest, tastiest and healthiest coffee on the planet.

Clean Food – It's tasty & nutritious

Trees and plants pull carbon out of the air and return it underground, feeding the soil’s microbiota. The microbiota return the favor by releasing minerals and trace elements that feed roots, encourage worms, build soil, and deliver the taste and nutrition to the food that you need to stay healthy. It's a clean, holistic approach to farming that eliminates the need for herbicides, pesticides, fungicides and chemical fertilizers. The result is healthy, nutrient dense coffee plants that produce great tasting coffee!

Benefits of Nutrient Dense Plants Include:

More complex and intense flavor

Longer shelf life

More disease and pest resistance

Greater yield

Citation

* Fuss, S., Lamb, W. F., Callaghan, M. W., Hilaire, J., Creutzig, F., Amann, T., . . . Minx, J. C. (2018). Negative emissions—Part 2: Costs, potentials and side effects. Environmental Research Letters, 13(6), 063002. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/aabf9f

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