Elan's commitment to supply the finest quality certified organic and socially responsible coffees in the world enable us to offer many sustainable coffees.

Elan Organic Coffees offers a multitude of sustainable coffees.

Elan Organic Coffees

• Is a certified organic coffee broker and trader
• is certified Organic by Quality Assurance International
• is certified by OCIA
• provides coffees that certified by a variety of legitimate certification entities including NASAA, BCS OkoGarantie,Naturland, Inkacert, Mayacert, and EcoCert
• sells coffees that are shade grown
• sells coffees that are bird-friendly
• sells coffees that are Certified Fair Trade Organic
• sells coffees that are Certified Rain Forest Alliance

Certified Organic Coffee is coffee that has been determined to be produced according to sustainable practices, without the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or other harmful agrochemicals.

Certified Organic Coffees are reviewed by independent certifying agencies that inspect every farm, each year and manage the audit trail. All stages of production are monitored for adherence to sustainable agricultural techniques and ecologically sound methods of processing.

In order to be labeled "organic", coffee must adhere to rigorous standards in agricultural production, handling, and roasting. The "Organic Foods Production Act" of 1990 is the federal law which governs U.S. organic food standards and labeling. This regulation declares that organic foodstuffs must be grown and processed according to two basic principles; no prohibited substances can be used, and a sustainable organic plan must be implemented. The myriad of details that constitute the regulations have been developed by the organic community over many years of exhaustive, expert debate.

www.ams.usda.gov

The prohibited substances include most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. This is especially important in less developed countries where there is little or no protection for the farmers who apply the pesticides. As a matter of fact, many of the pesticides used are banned in developed countries. Unfortunately, damage to the environment and people is hard to calculate. We can say with certainty, though, that these materials are not only toxic but can also be mutagenic and increase immune deficiency, even at low doses. When synthetic pesticides are prohibited, it allows for the development of bio-rational controls such as commercial insectaries that rear a wasp parasite that controls coffee borer (broca). This is very different from so called "green seals" which allow an undefined "restricted" use of synthetic pesticides.
The organic farm plan consists of an organic management system. In the case of coffee, this system would include the use of shade grown trees that provide ecological niches for beneficial insects, nitrogen for the coffee, and erosion control to name just a few benefits. Under organic management, all the coffee cherries would be composted along with other agricultural waste. Ideally bananas or other food crops would be inter-planted with the coffee. The role of the organic inspector is to see that the organic plan outlined in the application is implemented on the farm. In succeeding years, improvements in the management system will be expected.
The certification agent based on the handling plan presented by the importing coffee companies must also verify the transport, handling, roasting, and packing of the coffee. The organic seal guarantees that the coffee was grown according to ecological principles and its integrity protected en-route.
Certification ensures organic authenticity from Tree to Cup!

Elan Organic Coffees supports shade-grown coffee as a means to improve the income and diet of poor coffee farmers and restore habitat diversity in tropical forests that are endangered by development.

Shade-grown coffee bushes grow under shade trees (vegetative coverage). This process is a less-intensive, lower-yielding form of cultivation than sun-grown coffee and may be divided into three forms:

1. Conventional shade-grown coffee, which uses agrochemicals.
2. Natural shade-grown coffee, which uses neither chemicals nor any specific technique to improve the plant condition nor the environment. It is simply left to grow as it may without any attention.
3. Organic shade-grown coffee, which does not use any type of synthetic chemical, but is cultivated using special techniques. There are different stages throughout the process and each stage employs a special technique, such as improvement of the soil, treatment for the plant, pruning of the plant and vegetative covering, etc.

Approximately 80 percent to 90 percent of coffee comes from small farmers who cultivate shade-grown bushes on one to three hectares (about 2.5 to 7.5 acres) of land. This means that most of the coffee we consume every day comes from very poor people with small farms. By diversifying the shade-tree canopy, farmers can enjoy a richer production from their land and the canopy becomes a more diverse habitat for insects, plants and migratory birds.

Coffee producers throughout Latin America use shade. There are different types of shade. In Mexico, for example, a great majority of coffee plantations have a single type of shade tree (called monospecific shade or monoculture) using Inga spp., locally called Chalum. In Guatemala, Chalum shades are used as well as another type called Gravilea. Many Latin American producers plant other types of trees among the shade trees, including banana, lemon, orange, avocado and other fruit trees for personal consumption and for sale; this type of shade is called commercial polyculture.

Farmers find many good reasons for using Chalum. The tree develops rapidly and its plentiful leaves contribute as a natural fertilizer when they fall to the ground. . Its broad canopy shades a large area and is non-intense, permitting some sunrays to enter.

Most small coffee farmers in Latin America begin production by clear-cutting land, usually forest or jungle, and planting corn for personal consumption and sale. After two or more years of corn production, they plant coffee because it is a relatively good-paying cash crop that will earn them a profit. While growing their corn crop, these farmers prepare the coffee bushes and Chalum trees for later planting, resulting in growth of the same shade tree throughout their groves.
Throughout our years of contact with these farmers, we have noticed that this monospecific shade is not the best shade for coffee plantations and that harvests are better with diversified shade. The concept of diversified shade uses two or more layers or levels of shade trees with different species of trees.

When small farmers first began using organic production techniques and including them in the regulations for their cooperatives, there was little emphasis on the type of shade trees that should be used. Nevertheless, some small farmers have improved the diversity of the shade of their coffee groves, but this takes years. Shade diversity comes from the personal initiative of the farmers and from people and agencies providing technical assistance, rather than through regulations established in the organic certification process.

Sun-grown coffee is produced on hybrid bushes that grow in direct sun without any protection from taller trees. Growers must supply these plants with agrochemicals (pesticides, fertilizers, etc.). Consequently, most farmers who produce sun-grown coffee are large growers with ample capital for costly inputs. Those costs are offset by a more intense production and higher yields per hectare than for shade-grown coffee.

Fair Trade Coffee helps small grower communities improve in many ways. It pays our farmers a decent living wage for their harvest even when they market is. It creates direct trade to small coffee growers and their cooperatives. It provides access to affordable credit, helping farmers stay out of debt to local coyotes, and it promotes sustainable practices, such as organic farming, that protect our environment. Because of all these practices, Elan Organic Coffees was one of the first coffee developers / importers to sign up for the TransFair USA license.

www.transfairusa.org

The mission of the Rainforest Alliance is to protect ecosystems, its people and its wildlife that depend on the ecosystem. They do this by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior. Companies, cooperatives and landowners that participate in Rainforest Alliance meet rigorous standards that conserve biodiversity and provide sustainable livelihoods.

The Rainforest Alliance works with people, whose livelihoods depend on the land, helping them transform the way they grow food, harvest wood and host travelers. Rainforest Alliance sets standards that conserve wildlife and wild lands and promote the well-being of workers and their communities. Farms and forestry enterprises that meet the comprehensive criteria receive the Rainforest Alliance certification seal.

www.rainforest-alliance.org

The Biodynamic Certification is issued by Demeter Biodynamic® Trade Association. Biodynamic agriculture seeks to heal the earth and her people. Demeter Certified Biodynamic® products are highly respected in the marketplace worldwide for their vitality and flavor profile. Biodynamic® farming is free of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers in the same manner as certified organic farming. In order to qualify for Demeter Biodynamic® status a farm must first meet the same 3-year transition requirement that NOP certified organic farming requires.

What distinguishes a Demeter certified Biodynamic® farm from a certified organic farm is that, in its entirety, a Demeter Biodynamic farm is managed as a living organism. This is the fundamental principal of the Biodynamic farming method. The special body of knowledge, which underlies Biodynamic agriculture, is derived from Rudolf Steiner's "Agricultural Course", and the spiritual context of Anthroposophy, within which this Course was originally held.