Most kinds of coffee are intolerant of direct sunlight, and prefer a canopy of sun-filtering shade trees. The trees protect the coffee from direct sun and mulch the soil with the leaves that fall on the ground that help retain soil moisture. The shade trees enrich the soil, and also provide habitat for birds. The birds in turn provide natural insect control. This sustainable method of farming uses little or no chemical fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides. In 1972, new hybrid varieties of coffee were developed to help increase production of the valuable crop. These new varieties produced significantly more coffee beans, were smaller and easier to harvest, and produced best in direct sunlight. Many growers cut their shade trees and switched to the new varieties. Of the 6 million acres of coffee lands, 60% have been stripped of shade trees since 1972. Only the small, low-tech farms, often too poor to afford chemicals, preserved their shade trees. Unfortunately, the new varieties of sun coffee came with the additional cost of the hybrids being dependent on high doses of pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Soil erosion, water runoff and soil depletion caused producers to clear vast areas of rainforest for new soil to plant, and it became apparent that this new method of growing coffee was unsustainable.
The loss of the shade trees on such a large scale also caused an estimated 20% decline in migratory bird populations in the last ten years, due to habitat loss. The diminished songbird population has been noted as far away as 1500 miles from the coffee growing regions. In 1996, the movement to support shade grown coffee was inspired by the Smithsonian Institute's Migratory Bird Center, which gathered environmentalists, farmers and coffee companies to address the problem and promote awareness of shade coffee. Today, sales of organically grown, shade coffee represent about 1%, or $30 million, of the U.S. market for coffee beans.