One thing I learned when I worked in the coffee business, is that practically ALL high quality arabica coffee is farmed organically, even though very little of it is “certified”. There are a couple of good reasons for this.
First, arabica coffee is grown at altitudes where insect infestation is pretty much non-existant. Also, a huge percentage of this coffee comes from cooperatives who buy beans from very small family farmers.
A large coffee conglomerate could certify its thousand acre plantation by going through the certification process only once. 200 five acre family farms would EACH have to go through the process seperately. So it would cost them 200 times as much per acre to certify; making it economically impossible. So, you’re probably not at risk using coffee that isn’t certified.
What other agricultural products lend themselves to organic production so that ceritification is kind of a moot question? Is there a list somewhere of what crops are most risky?
