Is Kicking Horse Coffee certified bird friendly?Updated 5 months ago
Great question! With many certifications, there can be challenges as to what constitutes true “bird-friendly” accreditation. Currently, the Smithsonian Institute is the only organization that has a comprehensive guideline as to what the best practices are for bird-friendly coffee. All the green beans that Kicking Horse Coffee procures are certified Fairtrade and Organic but we do not have the Smithsonian certification. Our specific challenge is that the Smithsonian is very small in the Cooperatives that it uses for its certification and we source from multiple Cooperatives from all over the world that they aren’t able to certify. Therefore, we can’t use their seal on our blends unless it is 100% certified.
Although we do not have their certification, all of the Fairtrade and Organic Cooperatives that we procure from are investing a significant amount of time and effort into biodiversity to improve their environment. Organic certification gives technical assistance to producers to plant indigenous (hence the term shade-grown) and producing trees for the multiple benefits of birds and farmers. Fairtrade and Organic Certified coffee only allows small farms (5 Ha or less) and this helps ensure their land is as biodiverse as possible. Fairtrade, Organic and Shade-grown coffee all attribute to creating supportive environments for our feathered friends. Now that is something to chirp about!