Certification
Smithsonian Bird Friendly
Bird Friendly is the strictest shade-coffee certification, created by the Smithsonian's migratory-bird scientists. It layers detailed canopy, tree-diversity and habitat criteria on top of organic certification, so every Bird Friendly coffee is also organic. The programme describes itself as the environmental gold standard for coffee and cocoa and now covers cocoa as well.
- Register
- OpenAnyone can check who holds it
- Founded
- not published
- Run by
- Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center (Smithsonian's National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute)
- Covers
- Farms, handlers and roasters
What it requires
In this atlas's own wordsFarms must first hold organic certification. Shade-grown farms then need at least 40 percent canopy cover after pruning, several strata of vegetation including a native upper stratum of trees at least 15 metres tall, a backbone shade species making up no more than 60 percent of shade trees with the remainder spread across at least 10 other species, and no conversion of protected areas. Farms in natural ('rustic') forest generally qualify. Bird Friendly coffee must be kept separate through processing, roasting and marketing, and farms are inspected by approved third-party agencies.
Countries active
No country list recorded.
Checking a claim
The register
Open to the public
Public 'where to buy' lists of retailers, roasters, importers and producers. The Smithsonian terms of use could not be read (HTTP 403); Smithsonian Open Access CC0 applies to designated collection data, not to these directory pages, so treat them as copyrighted and link out.
Logo use
Importers, roasters and retailers sign legal agreements with the Smithsonian Institution covering use of the Bird Friendly seal; the norms include a section on logo use.