Tag Archives: water

Rebranding Blue Harvest for our 10th Anniversary

2023-03-28 Comments Off on Rebranding Blue Harvest for our 10th Anniversary

Today we announce the launch of our new and improved website for Blue Harvest www.blueharvest.org Blue Harvest was launched at the SCAA EXPO in 2013, where we began exploring how coffee production and processing impacts on water resources. In 2014 we launched Blue Harvest as a project with this blog post, when Keurig Green Mountain […]

Win-win: Blue Harvest providing solutions that help cooperatives get back on their feet while PROTECTING WATER

2018-04-30 Comments Off on Win-win: Blue Harvest providing solutions that help cooperatives get back on their feet while PROTECTING WATER

In Blue Harvest, we have been working on improving water use efficiency and waste water treatment in wet mills, protecting water recharge areas in the farms by applying soil and water conservation practices (here and here) with a focus on regenerative coffee , as well as working with water system operators and water committees to […]

Saving water with new ecological wet mill designs

2018-03-06 Comments Off on Saving water with new ecological wet mill designs

Back in January, we presented some models of small wet mills that were designed to maximize water use efficiency and to treat waste water that generated by coffee processing.  CRS build these seven model wet mills as part of the Blue Harvest project, funded by Keurig Green Mountain and the Interamerican Development Bank. The original […]

Beyond the Source – the co-benefits of water-smart farm practices

2017-01-19 Comments Off on Beyond the Source – the co-benefits of water-smart farm practices

Last August (time is flying) we posted a summary of the Specialty Coffee Association’s Blueprint for Water Security in the Coffeelands. That paper presented 6 recommendations “to support action by coffee stakeholders committed to increasing water security at origin”. I want to highlight one of the key SCA recommendations, and how it links to an exciting new […]

Wet mills and water use

2016-10-05 Comments Off on Wet mills and water use

  Wet mills.  These are key elements in the coffee landscape.  They are the first step into transforming the cherry into a green bean.  At the heart, these structures can be relatively simple.  They need to receive the cherries, to de-pulp (Some stop here!  We won’t get too much into detail with pulped naturals, naturals […]

It’s all about CEC, You See

2016-09-23 Comments Off on It’s all about CEC, You See

This is a guest post by Hannah Francis, a Fulbright Scholar working with CRS’ Blue Harvest team in El Salvador this year. Hannah is a soil scientist helping analyze research data from hundreds of coffee farms. This post builds on our recent post called Get Me SOM, and several other posts on soil management on coffee farms. Guest […]

SCAA Blueprint on Water Security at Origin

2016-08-18 Comments Off on SCAA Blueprint on Water Security at Origin

SCAA has just published the Blueprint for Water Security in the Coffeelands as part of its series on critical issues at origin. The Blueprint’s purpose is “to support action by coffee stakeholders committed to increasing water security at origin”   I believe the Blueprint can serve as a useful reference for highlighting water-related actions at […]

Social Capital and Water

2016-07-22 Comments Off on Social Capital and Water

Twenty years ago, I was in the Peace Corps in Honduras working on water systems, and one of the biggest lessons from that experience was the conviction that if a community could come together and build their own water system, they could do just about anything. When people in a village or small town can […]

Get me SOM

2016-07-07 Comments Off on Get me SOM

Over the past 18 months (and more), we’ve posted often on the critical role of soils in terms of sustainable coffee production and water resources management. With all we’ve written, if I had to choose one recommendation  for improving coffee farm management, it would be this: “Increase Soil Organic Matter” Soil Organic Matter is abbreviated as SOM. […]