Cafe 2.0 helps Puerto Rican coffee producers improve farm performance and market competitiveness through coordinated support for conservation practice adoption, farm investment, cooperative development, and market access.
The project helps eligible producers implement approved climate-smart agriculture and forestry practices such as agroforestry, conservation cover, cover crops, reduced tillage, windbreaks, tree and shrub establishment, nutrient management, pest management, forest stand improvement, and other conservation practices. These practices are designed to improve soil health, strengthen climate resilience, support biodiversity, increase long-term productivity, and contribute to carbon sequestration.
Cafe 2.0 also supports approved producer investments that address practical barriers to productivity, quality, and market access. These may include labor, equipment and tools, seedlings and agricultural inputs, marketing, certifications, education, collective initiatives, and other approved uses that help producers strengthen their farms and participate more competitively in higher-value coffee markets.
Together, these forms of support allow Cafe 2.0 to connect farm-level resilience with market systems development. The project helps position Puerto Rican coffee as a differentiated, regenerative, U.S.-grown product while supporting stronger producer organizations, improved aggregation, buyer linkages, and long-term economic opportunity for farming families.
Project Objectives
The overarching goal of Advancing Markets for Puerto Rican Coffee Producers: Cafe 2.0 is to expand markets for Puerto Rican coffee by incentivizing producers to invest in farm resilience, strengthen productivity, and compete in differentiated coffee markets.
The project supports producers to:
Implement Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Practices
Cafe 2.0 helps producers adopt NRCS standard agroforestry and conservation practices on eligible acreage. This support is connected to practice implementation, documentation, field verification, and maintenance requirements.
Through these practices, the project helps improve soil health, shade management, biodiversity, climate resilience, long-term productivity, and carbon sequestration.
Strengthen Farm Productivity, Quality, and Market Readiness
Cafe 2.0 also supports approved investments that help producers address practical production and market barriers. These may include labor, tools, equipment, seedlings, agricultural inputs, certifications, education, marketing, and collective initiatives.
This support helps producers improve farm operations, strengthen coffee quality, prepare for market requirements, and participate in higher-value sales channels.
Expand Market Access for Puerto Rican Coffee
Cafe 2.0 helps producers and producer organizations access differentiated coffee markets through traceable supply chains, specialty coffee positioning, cooperative development, certifications, buyer engagement, and direct connections with U.S. markets.
Strengthen Producer Organizations
The project supports cooperative development and collective initiatives that help producers aggregate supply, share resources, improve access to infrastructure, strengthen bargaining power, and build more competitive market systems.
Economic Benefits for Producers
NCBA CLUSA anticipates that participating producers will realize the following economic benefits:
Increased Market Access
Cafe 2.0 helps producers and producer organizations access differentiated coffee markets through traceable supply chains, cooperative development, specialty coffee branding, certifications, buyer engagement, and direct connections with U.S. buyers.
Improved Farm Productivity
Agroforestry, conservation practices, improved inputs, technical assistance, tools, seedlings, education, and labor support can help producers strengthen farm operations and improve long-term productivity.
Reduced Production Costs
Improved land management, healthier soils, more efficient input use, shared resources, and cooperative approaches can help reduce costs and improve farm profitability over time.
Increased Revenue Opportunities
By supporting quality improvement, traceability, certification, branding, aggregation, and buyer linkages, Cafe 2.0 helps Puerto Rican coffee producers compete in higher-value markets and capture more value from their coffee.
Stronger Producer Organizations
Cafe 2.0 supports collective initiatives and cooperative development that help producers share resources, improve market infrastructure, aggregate supply, and strengthen bargaining power.
Results to Date
As of May 2026, Cafe 2.0 has reported the following progress:
Farmers enrolled:
301, 300 pending
Acres under practices:
1,500
Coffee trees distributed since February 2024:
510,372
Native trees distributed since February 2024:
22,387
Producer support disbursed since June 2024:
$385,000
CO₂ sequestered since September 2024:
1,172 MT
Markets reached:
119
Sales facilitated:
$231,643