Puerto Rico Climate-Smart Coffee

The National Cooperative Business Association CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA) will lead a consortium of cooperatives, farmer organizations and minority serving institutions in Puerto Rico to pilot a project that provides technical and financial assistance to 2,000 underserved Puerto Rican coffee farmers. The project will incentivize farmers to voluntarily adopt climate-smart agriculture and forestry (CSAF) practices that meet the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s NRCS practice standards in the production of climate-smart commodities (CSCs), primarily rust/climate change resistant varietals of arabica coffee, but also shade, hardwood and citrus trees on 10,000 acres and cash grants over four years.

Our position as the umbrella organization for cooperative businesses in the United States, along with our capacity to manage agricultural projects at scale, makes NCBA CLUSA uniquely suited to contribute to USDA’s historic Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities investments. Together with local partners such as Productores de Café de Puerto Rico (PROCAFE), the University of Puerto Rico-College of Agricultural Sciences Agricultural Experimental Station (UPR-AES), La Liga de Cooperativas de Puerto Rico (La Liga) and other farmer organizations and cooperatives, our project will build markets for climate-smart commodities—specifically arabica coffee produced by historically underserved farmers who will serve as an example for expanding the model to other parts of the U.S. Finally, SustainCERT will verify the greenhouse gas benefits that result from the CSAF practices promoted and implemented by the project.

USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Producer Eligibility and Enrollment Requirements

 


La Asociación Nacional de Empresas Cooperativas CLUSA International (NCBA CLUSA) liderará un consorcio de cooperativas, organizaciones de agricultores e instituciones al servicio de las minorías en Puerto Rico (PR) para dirigir un proyecto que brinda asistencia técnica y financiera a 2,000 caficultores puertorriqueños desatendidos.  El proyecto incentivará a los agricultores a adoptar voluntariamente prácticas agrícolas y forestales climáticamente inteligentes (CSAF) que cumplan con los estándares de prácticas NRCS del Departamento de Agricultura de EE. UU. (USDA) en la producción de productos básicos climáticamente inteligentes (CSC), principalmente a través de la distribución de variedades de café arábica resistentes a la roya y al cambio climático, pero también árboles de sombra, madera dura y cítricos en 10,000 acres e incentivos en efectivo durante cuatro años.

Nuestra posición como la organización sombrilla para las empresas cooperativas en los Estados Unidos y nuestra capacidad para administrar proyectos agrícolas a gran escala hacen que NCBA CLUSA sea especialmente capacitada para al programa “Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities” del USDA NRCS. Junto con socios locales como Productores de Café de Puerto Rico (PROCAFE), la Universidad de Puerto Rico-Colegio de Ciencias Agrícolas Estación Experimental Agrícola (UPR-AES), La Liga de Cooperativas de Puerto Rico (La Liga) y otras organizaciones de agricultores y cooperativas, nuestro proyecto creará mercados para productos agrícolas climáticamente inteligentes, específicamente café arábica producido por agricultores históricamente desatendidos que servirán como ejemplo para expandir el modelo a otras partes de los EE. UU. Finalmente, SustainCERT verificará los beneficios de los gases de efecto invernadero que resultan de las prácticas CSAF promovidas e implementadas por el proyecto.

USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities Elegibilidad del productor y requisitos de inscripción

Project Goals/Objectives

Building markets for climate-smart commodities

The overarching goal of this project is to build markets for climate-smart commodities by providing voluntary incentives to producers and landowners, including early adopters, to implement climate-smart agricultural production practices, activities and systems; measure, monitor and verify the carbon and greenhouse gas benefits associated with those practices; and develop markets and promote the resulting climate-smart commodities.

Additionally, NCBA CLUSA anticipates that farmers participating in this pilot project will realize the following economic benefits from the production of climate-smart commodities:

Increased productivity

Coffee farmers can expect a 130 percent increase in productivity across the project's targeted 10,000 acres.

Reduced costs

More efficient use of inputs and water, along with better land management, will reduce production costs by 25 percent.

Increased revenue

Adopting climate-smart practices will help coffee farmers in Puerto Rico increase their coffee sales’ revenue from USD$14 million to USD$50 million.

Increased resilience

Farmers’ ability to diversify crops for local and home consumption has significant economic and food security benefits.