After approximately three years of work, researchers at the Center for Meteorological and Climatic Research Applied to Agriculture (Cepagri) at Unicamp have completed the development of a tool capable of calculating the carbon emissions balance in coffee cultivation.
In a project in partnership with the Guaxupé Coffee Growers Cooperative (Cooxupé), in southern Minas Gerais, the resource allows for the accounting of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon sequestration at all stages of production.
Based on the application of inputs – fertilizers used in cultivation, fuel combustion for machinery operation, processing, and other activities in the production chain – the solution quantifies greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration. With this data available, the producer can promote sustainable management without reducing productivity and profitability levels, as well as compete in the domestic and international markets on better terms.
Cepagri researcher and project coordinator Renata Gonçalves explains that for over 20 years, the global research organization World Resources Institute (WRI) has been creating internationally accepted protocols for the development of corporate GHG inventories. Generically called GHG Protocols, these standards define internationally accepted practices for developing corporate, project, or product GHG inventories.
In recent years, however, there has been a growing demand for technical guidelines geared towards the agricultural sector. The model developed by Cepagri is the first specifically designed for coffee farming.
Cooxupé is today one of the most important associations in the sector in Latin America. It has approximately 20 member producers. According to the association, Minas Gerais is responsible for a large part of the national harvest, and about 50% of this production is delivered by the South of Minas region. In total, the state has a cultivated area of over 1 million hectares. According to the National Supply Company (Conab), 99% of this area is dedicated to the production of Arabica coffee, for which the Cepagri tool was developed.
Researcher João Paulo da Silva, who is part of the development team, says that the main concern in the process of adapting the tool for coffee was the search for a more precise identification of the effects of the activity on carbon stored in the soil.
“This required a significant amount of work involving the collection of specific data, such as collecting samples in the field from different areas of the coffee farms,” explains Silva.
“Then, we had to submit these samples to laboratory analyses to understand the dynamics of this carbon in the soil in different situations; in extracts from a coffee plantation, points related to the terrain, and at different ages of the plant,” he says.
Next, the group cross-referenced the data collected on the properties with the database that Cooxupé had built up over the years. According to Silva, the cooperative has a large volume of data on soil analysis, and from this, it was possible to establish a rate of change of carbon in the soil.
Need
Renata Gonçalves explains that the tool development project is part of Cooxupé's "Generations Sustainability Protocol" program, which aims to promote good agricultural practices with economic, social, and environmental sustainability as its goals.
Gonçalves explains that many years ago, when Cepagri and Embrapa began working on the topic of climate change, researchers warned that coffee would have problems with rising temperatures. "If the temperature rises too much, for example, during the flowering period, there is a high chance of flower abortion," the researcher recalled.
According to her, extreme events, such as extreme heat, hail, very strong frosts, or prolonged droughts, have been occurring more frequently in these areas. As a result, producers have recorded significant losses in recent years. "That's when they started thinking about changes in management," said Gonçalves.
Beyond the environmental issue, producers have also begun to take a more economic approach to production. "Today, purchasing companies are demanding that production be more sustainable. They need producers to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions so that they can continue buying and exporting coffee," he reveals.
Sabor
According to researchers at Cepagri, sustainable management of coffee plantations has the potential to positively impact the flavor of the beverage.
João Paulo da Silva points out that organic matter plays a very important role in soil behavior. According to him, it's the element that improves the soil's cation exchange capacity – increasing the amount of nutrients available in the soil for the plant to absorb and use in its physiological processes of growth and fruit development.
"If we have soil with more organic matter, we will need less fertilizer to obtain a higher quality beverage. This reduces production costs and improves the quality of the beverage," said the researcher.
"It is from this technique of reducing fertilization and leaving more organic matter in the soil that most of their award-winning coffees come," concludes Renata Gonçalves.
multipliers
Researchers at Cepagri note that from now on there will be a training program for multipliers. Technicians will be trained by the Association to disseminate the functionalities of the tool among rural producers.
Researchers from Cepagri, Priscila Coltri, Eduardo Assad, Jurandir Zullo Junior, and Maria Leonor Lopes Assad, also participated in the project.
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