Hello coffee folk.
My name is Patty Romaine-Moody. I am a green coffee quality specialist here at Starbucks and have a strong passion for coffee knowledge all the way through the supply chain; from the “Farmer to the Customer”.
My office mates were a little shook up today when they noticed that one of our very very large coffee trees was ‘stumped’ almost to the soil level (see pictures). Well I am here to share a little understanding around “Pruning”. So let the brief Agronomy lesson begin.
In addition here are a couple of other reasons why pruning is essential:
- Coffee ‘cherry’ does not grow in the same spot twice.
- Older branches and shoots need to be trimmed so the tree will not waste precious resources continuing the growth/nurturing of this unnecessary excess.
- When coffee trees are growing on a farm they are generally kept trimmed down to around 5-6 feet for ease of access during harvesting.
Check out some more information on our C.A.F.E. practices and agronomy here.
Originally posted Jul 6, 2009