The State of Agro-Ecological Coffee Production in the State of Rondônia

Rapidly deforested relatively recently, the Brazilian state of Rondônia is emerging as an interesting area in which to view competitive visions of agricultural land-use in the Amazon region. This study focuses on small-scale production of robusta coffee (Coffea canephora). Although conventional pesticide-dependent monoculture is still the dominant method of production, there are a rising number of small farmers in the state producing C. canephora with an agro-ecological, or “organic” ideology, which could be very beneficial for rehabilitating, while also utilizing, this fragile landscape. The research uses case studies of two coffee farms, one “organic” and one “conventional”, to understand the benefits, difficulties, and sustainability of these two methods of production. The results demonstrate the economic feasibility and environmental positivity of an agro-ecological production method for robusta coffee farmers in this region, and use these results to try to project what could be the future of agro-ecological farming in the western Amazon.