Our coffee Entre Ríos is the first to be declared free of deforestation

As we explained weeks ago, after December 30, 2024, coffee marketed in the European Union must be free of deforestation. What does this mean? It means that the land where coffee (and also cocoa or soybean, among others) will not have been deforested after 2020. The measure, taken by the European Union, aims to prevent the indiscriminate deforestation of forests and the consequent loss of biodiversity in order to convert them into coffee plantations. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).

One of our producers, Aquiares, who grow Entre Rios coffee in Costa Rica for NOMAD COFFEE, has recently been certified by sustainability consultancy Enveritas as an EUDR compliant company.

The analysis was conducted using high-resolution satellite imagery that examined the 45 Aquiares plots, finding no evidence of forest converted to cropland after December 31, 2020.

"We have a great responsibility as coffee producers, not only for our immediate buyers but also for the future generations of Costa Rica," explains CEO Diego Robelo. "We are proud to have received this recognition from Enveritas and even more proud to have passed this test in our alliance with NOMAD COFFEE, with whom we have been working for 8 years. We can now guarantee to all our main customers that our coffee is and will continue to be free of deforestation".

From NOMAD COFFEE we celebrate with joy the certification of Aquiares, a centenary coffee plantation active since 1890, which is also the largest in Costa Rica to be carbon neutral. But Aquiares' efforts are not limited to this: it has 620 hectares of coffee grown under the shade of trees and 200 other hectares of protected forests. Thanks to its dedication and savoir faire, it now exports to more than 20 countries.

For its part, at NOMAD COFFEE we have begun to collaborate with CoolX consulting to learn in depth about this regulation and what our obligations will be. For example, we will have to obtain and present information from the producers we work with that verifies that our coffee is free of deforestation, in addition to having been grown and processed under the relevant labor, sustainability, humane and indigenous peoples' protection laws, as well as in accordance with the current tax regulations in each country.

This is why we are mapping all our supply chains and obtaining geolocation data, while we are creating a system for managing and storing this and other data. We want to do our bit for the planet and, as always, any initiative in favor of this will be supported by NOMAD. And we are not just saying that. In 2023, as can be read in our Transparency Report, we achieved certification as a B Corp company: we were recognized as meeting the highest standards in social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal responsibility. Furthermore, of the 52 lots of coffee (i.e. 75041.50 kg) that we purchased during the past year, we obtained the farmgate price for 51 of them.