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How we approach agriculture – Complex Ecological Perspective
My goal with this farming model is to demonstrate that farming in harmony with the ecosystem is not only sustainable, but you and those who work with you can thrive with it. We do not use harmful pesticides and herbicides to prioritize health by limiting the exposure of people and wildlife.
Prioritizing People
It is paramount to protect your workers from harmful amounts of exposure to nasty chemicals. In the 1960s and 1970s there were many examples of massive use of pesticides on cotton plantations in El Salvador. To this day, people in those areas have chronic renal failure due to continued exposure from these pesticides, including DDT, lingering in the water. So it is not just about your workers but the environment and those that live in it as a whole.
While our farm is just one of many in the area, and our personal decision not to use harmful chemicals might not have a big impact on the environment, at least I know I am not contributing to the problem.
Farm Management
1) Coffee Trees
We also apply our sustainable philosophy to the coffee trees: if a coffee tree is too weak, it is eliminated. If they are not healthy and productive, then it’s not sustainable. Additionally, we use multiple varieties of coffee (Coffea arabica) to maintain the genetic diversity of the plantation.
In the past, the use of a single variety of Coffea arabica led us to the crisis of 2011/2012, when we lost 90% of our trees due to rust fungus or roya (Hemileia vastatrix).
2) Complex Shade Canopy
NOT a mono-culture.
Shade-grown, complex Canopy
Most shade-grown coffee farms use a sparse shade trees of all one species (left image). We take it a step further by cultivating the biodiversity of a complex ecosystem. We maintain a diverse set of shade trees with multiple canopy layers (right image) to imitate the natural forest ecosystem as much as possible.
3) Habitat Diversity
Increasing the diversity of the canopy has improved the wildlife we’ve been seeing. (see our Wildlife page for more info!)
4) No pesticides
As a biologist, I know healthy ecosystems need to maintain a balance between predators and prey. Pesticides and herbicides tend to target pests AND their predators–causing the balance to shift. As a result, when the pests return, their predators are no longer in the area, so the pest problem becomes progressively harder to manage.
Dealing with Weeds
Instead of spraying heavily with herbicides, we promote the competition of good weeds. These keep out the bad weeds and do not take up the nutrients the coffee trees need.
Dealing with Fungal infections
Similar to how we deal with weeds, we increase abundance of good fungus (Trichoderma) to out-compete harmful fungus in the soil (Fusarium sp. and Pythium sp.) that might harm the roots of the coffee trees.
Additionally, we only use targeted treatments of non-toxic fungicide on individual plants affected by rust fungus on their leaves. By targeting only affected plants, we can prevent fungus from becoming resistant to our treatments.
Dealing with Insect and Nematode Pests
By maintaining a diverse ecosystem, we encourage beneficial predators to make the farm home as much as possible. In exchange, they eat the pests that would seek to destroy the coffee. It’s a win-win!
To treat the Coffee Borer specifically (Hypothenemus hampei), we use a beneficial fungi (Beauveria bassiana) that attacks the coffee pest.
Paecelomyces sp. is a fungus that we use to combat the bad nematodes that also attack tree roots. We drench the area around the roots of the coffee trees with this fungus to provide them with a protective barrier.
Supplemental Nutrients
We periodically apply fertilizers to maintain coffee tree health and productivity.