How satellite data helps fair trade coffee farmers meet EU rules
Fairtrade has partnered with remote sensing company Satelligence to extend satellite monitoring of forests and farms to all certified coffee producer organizations worldwide. The goal is to connect cooperative and smallholder farm data with deforestation risk information, so producers can show commercial partners that their coffee meets the EU Deforestation Regulation and keeps access to the European market.
The EU introduced its zero-deforestation regulation in June, barring products linked to deforestation from the EU market, with coffee and cocoa in scope. Operators must run due diligence and trace origin or face fines, export restrictions, and bans. Fairtrade's Jon Walker said the partnership targets access to risk management data, breaking the hold large companies have over supply chain information.
After the EU's Regulation on Deforestation-free Products took effect, the threshold for exporting coffee to the European market has been significantly raised. The international fair trade organization recently announced a partnership with remote sensing technology company Satelligence to expand satellite monitoring to all certified coffee producer organizations worldwide, helping cooperatives and their smallholder members directly access deforestation risk data. This move is intended to break the monopoly of large companies over supply chain information, enabling producers to proactively prove that their coffee is not linked to deforestation, thereby retaining EU market access. This article reviews the background of the cooperation, the requirements of the regulation, and the views of various parties, and includes related recommendations from Front Street Coffee.
The international fair trade organization recently announced that it has established a new partnership with Satelligence. This collaboration will extend satellite monitoring services for forest areas and farms to all certified coffee producer organizations worldwide. The core goal of the cooperation is to connect data from fair trade cooperatives and their member farms with deforestation risk information, enabling cooperatives to share this data with commercial partners and thereby produce products that meet the requirements of the EU Deforestation Regulation. This not only helps ensure their goods continue to enter the European market, but also contributes to more effective management of forest landscapes.
In June of this year, the EU introduced the world's first "zero deforestation regulation," affecting related industries in multiple coffee-producing countries. The regulation explicitly prohibits any individual or company from selling products linked to deforestation on the EU market, with coffee and cocoa among those included in its scope. The regulation requires operators to conduct due diligence and trace the origin of the goods they sell to confirm that they are not linked to deforestation or forest degradation, otherwise they will face a series of penalties including fines, export restrictions, and even bans.
Jon Walker, senior advisor at the international fair trade organization, pointed out: "This partnership focuses on an increasingly critical link in trade: access to risk management data, which determines which coffees are allowed to enter the EU market." He further explained that many large companies have built their own monitoring systems covering the cooperatives they invest in, but these companies are not necessarily willing to share the information they see with the cooperatives themselves. Once cooperatives can only rely on trading partners to obtain this important data, the imbalance in trade relationships will be further amplified. Through this cooperation, however, cooperatives and their smallholder members will be able to access data directly and take corresponding action against identified risks.
Satelligence is a world-leading remote sensing technology company focused on risk management in sustainable commodity supply chains. The company provides a validated satellite monitoring system that can provide geolocation data for farmers' farm plots and, with technical support from the fair trade organization, continuously analyze and manage the data. This is seen as an important step by the fair trade organization to improve supply chain transparency.
In addition, the system will also detect whether there is deforestation activity around member farms, whether farms are located within protected deforestation areas, and will flag and assess the risk of deforestation near farms. Ultimately, the system will generate relevant reports that producers can provide to existing or potential customers.
Satelligence CEO Niels Wielaard said that many companies are still not fully prepared for the "zero deforestation regulation," and that once they lose access to core markets such as the EU, the blow will be devastating for small coffee farmers who mainly rely on these products for their livelihoods. He added: "We are honored to work with the fair trade organization to help farmers access markets in Europe and other regions by proving that their goods are not linked to deforestation, thereby preventing farmers from being further marginalized."
Disclaimer: Some images in this article are from the internet. For some content on the website, such as images, we will respect the original author's copyright and indicate the source. However, due to the large volume, some images and texts may not have been credited in time. Please forgive us. If the original author has any dispute, they may contact the website for handling. Once verified, we will correct it immediately. Compiled and edited by "Coffee Review vdailycom." Please indicate the source when reprinting. This article is intended to spread coffee culture. If there is any infringement, please inform us for deletion. Thank you~!
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
