Farm Renovation & Rehabilitation

Meeting the global need to rejuvenate coffeelands while applying best practices that restore productivity and conserve nature

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Coffee trees are a farmer's greatest asset.

Farmers rely on productive and resilient trees to remain competitive — and to sustain their livelihoods. Aging trees, climate change and significant pest and disease outbreaks threaten production, spurring the need for renovation and rehabilitation (R&R) of coffee farms. And while coffee yields are declining, demand for coffee is growing by 2% annually. In fact, it is estimated that global production will need to double by 2050 to keep up with demand.

Across the 19 biggest coffee producing countries, 40% of global coffee production area would benefit from R&R. This is equivalent to the entire harvested area of Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia and Ethiopia. To put this in perspective, roughly 14 billion coffee trees are needed to address the issue. Though there has been over USD 1.2 billion already invested in R&R efforts by governments and supply chain actors, we’ve still only scratched the surface in terms of the need.

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Renovation

the removal of old trees and addition of new material

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Rehabilitation

stumping or rejuvenation pruning of existing trees

Both renovation & rehabilitation can be undertaken to increase the production of a farming area. In addition to increasing yield per tree, implementing R&R on existing areas can ultimately avoid the expansion of coffee’s spatial footprint to meet growing demand. Furthermore, renovation with new disease resistant and climate tolerant varietals can help farmers adapt to changing climate.

Joining Forces

Partners in the Sustainable Coffee Challenge have come together to address the need for healthy, productive trees. We have set a collective target of sustainably renovating and rehabilitating 1 billion trees by 2025.

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426,360,732 total coffee trees committed

330,800,000 coffee trees provided to date

The Network provides support to stimulate investments by…

Distributing Knowledge

Sharing knowledge on renovation and rehbilitation to improve farmers yields and meet future demand for coffee

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Creating Incentives

Research to identify sources of funding for partners and collective fundraising to secure match funding and investments

Our Collective Goal

Accelerate the responsible renovation and rehabilitation of coffee farms by sharing experiences, incorporating best practices and coordinating efforts and resources, making it possible for every coffee farmer to undertake these efforts as a regular part of doing business.

We are Taking Action

Together, the following members of the R&R Collective Action Network are working to bring more attention to the need for crop renovation and rehabilitation.

35 North Coffee ASU Caffee Ibis
Castellon Center For Coffee Research CIAT
Conservation International CRS ECOM
Ecotierra Eko Cafe Fair Trade
Fairtrade America Cohonducafe Gorilla
Hanns R Neumann IDH illy
Mercon Moyee Mzb
Naeb NCBA Nucafe
PUR Project Root Capital Rise Up
Sagarpa Smithsonian Specialty Coffee Association
Supply Shift Starbucks Sustainable Food Lab
Swiss Coffee Alliance TATA The Coffee Source
Techno Serve Tuungane USAID
USDA UTZ Vigilante
World Coffee Research

Learn more and get involved

There is a lot of work to be done to ensure the long-term supply of coffee from countries where the crop has long shaped the social and economic fabric. Learning to extend the life of their trees and improve yields helps farmers stabilize annual production and in turn, income, while the rest of the world benefits from a steady supply of quality coffee. Continue on to learn more about the immediate attention and action that is required to make this a reality.