Shade grown ecofriendly coffee plantations house a variety of forest and introduced trees which in turn provide biomass in the form of dead wood, leaf litter, plant and other residues.
In the past decade, coffee went through a period of rapid and disastrous liberalization -- a failed experiment in globalization that nearly destroyed the industry.
The importance of fertilizer, particularly nitrogen, in increasing coffee yields and quality was proved beyond doubt by researchers and this lead to the widespread and indiscriminate use of nitrogenous fertilizers in boosting coffee yields.
What is "shade grown coffee"? Is it better coffee or marketing hype? How is it better for the environment? Ryan Jacobs writes a introductory article on this topic.
