Shade Grown Coffee

With shade growing the plant receives no more than two hours of direct sunlight a day. It differs from half-shade growing (from two to four hours) and the growing of single plants (from two to four hours). It is a method that makes it possible to save water and cut the use of fertilizers insofar as the organic matter deposited by the trees fertilizes the soil naturally and keeps it damp, reducing the water requirement to a bare minimum. Growing coffee in the shade thus means using fertilizers, insecticides and other toxic substances. All this prolongs the life of the plantation and improves the quality of the product. By combining shade growing with that of multifunctional plants, the environmental sustainability of production and the protection of product quality are harmonized with social sustainability. Multifunctional plants, in fact, are plants that can meet more than one need at once: they can provide food in the form of fruit and vegetables, firewood to produce heat and energy, and deposit organic matter in the soil to keep it fertile. In the case of coffee cultivation, multifunctional plants that are taller than the coffee plants provide the latter with protection from direct sunlight.