Taller, mature trees provide shade and protection for the young coffee trees when they are at their most vulnerable. This is absolutely vital with the rise of extreme weather events that coffee growing countries are seeing more and more frequently. It takes four to five years for a coffee tree to mature and start producing fruit, so it can be catastrophic for producers to lose any of their trees to adverse weather or disease.

Coffee can be a challenge to grow even under prime conditions; the trees require a really specific and temperate environment to flower and fruit. A protective forest canopy keeps the immediate climate more stable by providing natural cover that acts as an insulating blanket. This protects against extreme hot or cold spells. Established trees with deep roots keep the soil hydrated, which helps combat droughts but it also prevents soil erosion that can be a result of heavy rain.

Shade is more appealing to bees and other pollinating insects, increasing the amount of flowers that get fertilised and thus providing a better yield of cherries for the farmer. The trees also provide a safe habitat for birds, who in turn keep control of pests that can plague coffee trees, such as the coffee borer beetle which burrow into the coffee cherries and decimate entire trees. Another huge issue blighting coffee production is the spread of ‘coffee leaf rust’ - a fungal disease that infects the plant and causes the leaves to drop prematurely, resulting in poor flowering and little to no fruiting. It was previously thought that growing coffee as a monoculture (grown with no shade) helped prevent the spread of the fungus due to reduced moisture, but studies show that coffees grown using agroforestry models have reduced cases of coffee rust of up to 20%.