The Monday Morning Stimulus

Daily Coffee News, How Europe’s Deforestation Law Could Change the Global Coffee Trade

If your morning can’t begin without coffee, you’re in good company. The world drinks about 2 billion cups of coffee a day. However, a European Union law might soon affect your favorite coffee beans — and the farmers who grow them. Starting in 2026, companies selling coffee on the European Union market will have to prove that their product is “deforestation-free.” That means every bag of beans, every jar of ground coffee and every espresso capsule must trace back to coffee plants on land that hasn’t been cleared of forest since Dec. 31, 2020. The new rules, found in what’s known as the EU Deforestation Regulation, are part of a wider effort to ensure European consumption doesn’t drive global deforestation.

However, on the ground — from the coffee hills of Ethiopia to the plantations of Brazil — the rule change could transform how coffee is grown, traded and sold.
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Small farms in particular could be vulnerable to losing business when the new rules go into effect. They could lose contracts or market access if they can’t provide the plot-level GPS coordinates and non-deforestation documentation buyers will require. That could prompt buyers to shift toward larger estates or organized co-ops that can provide the documentation. If a farm can’t provide precise plot coordinates or pay for mapping services, it could end up being excluded from the world’s largest coffee market.

But it will be Trumps fault when coffee gets more expensive.

The Wombat has posted Rule 5 Sunday: Karin Hart at the usual time and place.