Tag Archives: soil

THE TIME TO REGENERATE COFFEE IS NOW, AND IT STARTS WITH HEALTHY SOIL

2018-04-20 Comments Off on THE TIME TO REGENERATE COFFEE IS NOW, AND IT STARTS WITH HEALTHY SOIL

  It is time to move beyond the idea of sustainable coffee. Sustaining something assumes that what we have is already good enough. Yet numerous studies have shown that if the coffee industry does not change its current “business-as-usual” approach, we will not have quality coffee in the future. And this will hurt everyone that […]

Measuring ROI of farm management activities on water resources in the Coffeelands

2017-11-07 Comments Off on Measuring ROI of farm management activities on water resources in the Coffeelands

Measuring how better management of coffee farms improve water resources in the Coffeelands Blue Harvest started as an idea of how to restore and improve the management of water resources in coffee producing areas in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, while increasing the productivity of coffee farms located in our target watersheds.  As we have […]

ROYA IS EVOLVING. SO WHAT NOW?

2017-05-22 Comments Off on ROYA IS EVOLVING. SO WHAT NOW?

World Coffee Research has spoken.  Lempira, a high-yielding, popular variety planted throughout Honduras is no longer what thousands of farmers hoped that it would be: resistant to coffee leaf rust.  While there is not yet any conclusive scientific evidence that la roya has evolved into a new race or strain, all indications are pointing to […]

Protecting Water Resources with Supply Chain Actors

2017-02-02 Comments Off on Protecting Water Resources with Supply Chain Actors

By working together with all actors of a supply chain, we can tackle problems and identify solutions in a more sustainable and efficient way. CRS Blue Harvest seeks to protect and restore potable water resources in agricultural lands by promoting water and soil conservation practices and improving water governance. In Central America, we work in […]

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 […]

Analyze This: Getting to Know Soils in the Coffeelands

2016-02-24 Comments Off on Analyze This: Getting to Know Soils in the Coffeelands

A farmer must know his or her soil. I mean, really know it: what lives in it (bacteria, fungi, protozoa, etc.); what’s decomposing in it and how much (organic matter); how hungry it is (for certain types of nutrients); if it needs a drink or needs to dry out (moisture level); and how it’s feeling […]

CRS Coffeelands Blog Year in Review

2016-01-19 Comments Off on CRS Coffeelands Blog Year in Review

Today, the annual review of the Coffeelands content you liked best over the past year. .

The Machete vs the Hoe

2015-06-18 Comments Off on The Machete vs the Hoe

Blessed is the Machete A machete makes a wonderful wedding gift. After working many years with farmers around the world, I learned to value the multiple functions a machete offers a family: it’s a knife, a lawn mower, vegetable peeler, screwdriver, tree pruner, and so much more. A few years ago, my friends Sara and […]