Brazil’s Forest Loss Linked to Coffee Farming Reaches 737,000 Hectares in Two Decades

Post by : Saif Nasser

A new report has found that coffee farming in Brazil has caused major damage to forests over the last two decades. Between 2002 and 2023, about 737,000 hectares (1.8 million acres) of forest were lost because of coffee production, according to a study released by Coffee Watch on Wednesday.

The report said that 312,803 hectares of land were directly cleared to plant coffee, while the rest of the deforestation came from additional forest loss inside coffee-growing areas. Experts warn that this destruction is not only harming the environment but also putting Brazil’s coffee industry at risk in the long run.

Forest loss hurting coffee farms

Brazil is the world’s largest coffee producer and exporter, providing millions of 60-kilogram bags of coffee each year. But according to Coffee Watch, this success is in danger because deforestation is changing the weather patterns needed for coffee to grow.

“Brazil needs to reverse course urgently because this deforestation isn’t just a carbon and biodiversity disaster – it’s also killing rains and leading to crop failures,” said Etelle Higonnet, director of Coffee Watch.

The report explained that forests play a key role in maintaining rainfall. When trees are cut down, the land becomes dry, leading to fewer rains and longer droughts. These changes have already been seen in the country’s top coffee-growing regions.

Droughts and soil moisture loss

In Minas Gerais, Brazil’s biggest coffee-producing state, eight out of the last ten years have seen below-average rainfall. The Coffee Watch report also mentioned data from NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite mission, which shows that soil moisture has dropped by up to 25% in some areas over the past six years.

This means that even the rich coffee soils of Brazil are becoming too dry to support large plantations. Many farmers, who once relied on natural rain, are now being forced to invest in expensive irrigation systems to water their crops. These costs are rising quickly and could make coffee production less profitable.

Risk to Brazil’s global coffee supply

Brazil’s coffee exports are vital to the global market. Any drop in production could affect coffee prices worldwide. The report said that continued forest loss could reduce future coffee yields, damage ecosystems, and lead to more extreme weather events such as droughts and floods.

“Deforestation is a double threat,” said an environmental expert involved in the study. “It makes farming harder for local growers and also worsens climate problems for the entire planet.”

Call for sustainable farming

To protect both the environment and the coffee industry, Coffee Watch urged Brazil to adopt sustainable agroforestry practices. This method mixes coffee plants with trees and other crops, helping the soil hold more moisture and protecting biodiversity.

However, the report said that less than 1% of key coffee zones currently use such methods. “There is still time to act,” Coffee Watch stated. “If farmers, companies, and the government work together, Brazil can save its coffee farms and its forests.”

Industry response

The Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (Cecafe) responded to the report by saying that it paints an incomplete picture. Cecafe argued that the data combines overall deforestation in entire municipalities and does not specifically analyze coffee farms themselves.

It also cited research by the Federal University of Minas Gerais in 2023, which showed that 99% of the 115,000 coffee-producing properties registered in the rural environmental registry have not shown major deforestation since 2008.

Still, environmental groups insist that even limited forest loss can have serious long-term impacts. They warn that Brazil’s coffee belt could face severe rainfall shortages and temperature rises if deforestation continues.

A warning for the future

For now, many farmers are trying to balance their need to earn a living with the need to protect the land. Experts say that reforestation, improved water management, and stricter monitoring of deforestation are crucial to saving Brazil’s most famous crop.

The report serves as a strong warning: if the destruction of forests continues, the very conditions that make Brazil the world’s coffee powerhouse could disappear. Protecting forests, experts say, is not just about saving trees—it’s about saving the future of coffee itself.