MONTE CARMELO, Brazil* — Ikea has invested €500,000 in a regenerative coffee project in Brazil’s Cerrado Mineiro region as the Swedish retailer studies how farming practices can improve environmental performance while maintaining crop productivity.
The project, launched in late 2024 with the Rainforest Alliance and the monteCCer coffee cooperative, covers 11 Rainforest-certified growers with a combined 1,100 hectares (2,717 acres) of coffee. Ikea, which operates cafés in its stores, is also discussing the possibility of buying coffee produced under the program.
Researchers and agronomists are monitoring soil health, pests and diseases and helping farmers tailor regenerative practices to individual properties. Measures include integrated pest management, cover crops, biological inputs and greater biodiversity.
One participating farm, Santa Bárbara, uses cover crops between coffee rows to improve soil biology and nutrient cycling while supporting pollinators and natural pest predators. Another, Fazenda Londrina, combines coffee with mahogany trees and captures rainwater for irrigation.
The initiative has been extended for another year. In its second phase, the Rainforest Alliance is recommending specific practices to participating in farms while gathering data intended to show how different levels of regenerative farming affect environmental indicators and coffee yields.
*The journalist traveled at the invitation of the Rainforest Alliance.
This story was translated from the original Portuguese with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by The AgriBiz editorial staff.
