Here at Nerja Coffee Roasters we are a certified organic coffee roastery. When we started our company originally we couldn’t find any certified organic coffees so we aimed for Fairtrade and other certifications but very quickly realised that we wanted to be Organic so we started to seek out organic coffees. Unfortunately there were not many organic coffees available, but we kept driving forward to find as many as we could.

The reason we choose Organics.

We have two children and from the time we were children we have seen the quality of food really go down and this coupled with climate change we had already decided years ago that we must do our part to help the planet to the best of our ability. Five years ago we became vegan and have tried to live as sustainable as possible since that time, growing many of our vegetables and composting all our food waste. Now that we have our company we want to continue to honour the sustainable way of life. We understand that conventional farming is really having a detrimental impact on our planet and the more we research this the scarier it feels. Organic farming is the only way for us.

In the coffee industry, for example you can listen to the linked podcast by James Harper that talks about Honduras in the 1980’s and how all of the coffee farmers were getting sick. The reality of conventional farming using all of these chemicals in pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers is that they are making us sick. With inflammatory diseases on the rise, we know they are being caused by the exposure to toxins. There is no monitoring of food to find out how much of these residual chemicals make their way onto our dinner plates. I think the worst part of it is that it is such a vicious cycle. Take strawberries as an example, when I was a child they were so flavourful. Now due to the lack of nutrients in the soil from the constant use of fertilizers to help them grow quickly, they are no longer sweet and they tend to taste watery. This goes across the food chain and therefore companies are adding artificial flavours and lots of sugar to foods and this in turn is making us sick. So it’s coming from many angles!

Complex Connections

The consequences for our soil is also a huge problem. Conventional farming also promotes monoculture and tillage, which means that the soil is void of nutrients and has its root structure decimated at harvest time. This leads to higher temperatures over bare ground and in times of heavy rain the soil is washed away. Organic farming promotes the use of natural fertilizers like compost and cover crops to replenish the nutrients in the soil and reduce the temperature, by having the land covered for longer. This also leads to roots systems reaching down in the ground, allowing water and air to seep into the ground promoting better growing conditions reducing the need for further fertilizers. Finally, these root systems are one of the best ways for extracting carbon from the air and embedding it in the ground, thus helping combat climate change. So healthy soil creates healthy food, healthy humans and a healthier planet.

From the paragraphs above, you can see that many of the issues around finding healthy food are connected. It has been overwhelming at times to think we could make a difference, however we know that by doing our part at home and in our business, especially in choosing organic coffees, we are helping. We know that farmers choosing organic practices are also moving into regenerative and sustainable practices, so we feel that we can do our part in buying their coffee. The more we as individuals choose organic the better the practices can become because right now organic certifications are expensive which doesn’t allow everyone access to them, whereas if organic practices become the norm, then they will come down in cost.