Nescafé Plan: Almost a third of the green coffee supply comes from regenerative agriculture

MILAN – On the day of the publication of the Nescafé Plan 2030 Progress Report, Nestlé organised yesterday, Wednesday 11 June, the webinar ‘Nescafé Plan 2030: Annual Progress Highlights’ to take stock of the progress of this important programme, which was launched in 2022 with the aim of making coffee farming more sustainable and resilient. The meeting was an opportunity to share updates on the progress of the Nescafé plan, the strategies implemented so far and the actions still to be developed to promote an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable supply chain. But it also offered the opportunity to explore the fundamentals and criteria behind regenerative agriculture.

This was the agenda of the webinar, which involved several speakers

Opening the webinar, Axel Touzet, Head of Strategic Business Unit Nestlé Coffee Brands, who briefly introduced the reasons behind the Nescafé 2030 Plan, including the challenge of climate change, production more oriented towards the regenerative agriculture model, and a fairer system of remuneration for farmers. Always keeping in mind that coffee is still a business, which must prove to be sustainable in many ways.

He was followed by Marcelo Burity, Green Coffee Development Manager, Nestlé, Paul Stewart, Global Coffee Director, Technoserve, Orlando Garcia, Nescafé Plan Agriculture – Latin America, Nestlé, Paul Stewart, Global Coffee Director, Technoserve and Alessandra Fiedler, Project Coffee++ Project Manager, GIZ.

Production with advanced techniques, social impact, raising quality, discovering resilient varieties were some of the hot topics of the webinar.

Nescafé Plan: Targets to be achieved by 2025:

• 100% responsibly sourced coffee
• 20% of coffee to be sourced from farmers adopting regenerative farming practices

And by 2030:

• 50% of the raw material must come from farms that adopt regenerative farming practices
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Continue the development of the Nestlé Net Zero programme, which focuses on the restructuring and rejuvenation of farms through the application of regenerative farming practices in order to increase farmers’ productivity and income by working with the two partners GIZ and Technoserve.

How the Nescafé programme translates into actions and numbers

• More than 200,000 coffee farmers spread over 16 countries were trained in regenerative farming practices in 2024 alone.
• 4. 4 million trees have been planted as a result of the Nestlé Global Reforestation Programme in the affected supply chains, reaching a total of more than 9 million by 2022.
• Exceeded 1,400 field resources, including several agronomists, in close contact with local producers involved in the Nescafé programme.
• Reached over 4, 000 small farmers through various economic incentives, which were used to support the transition to regenerative agriculture in Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia Mexico and Honduras.

Here are some interesting facts:

• 21 million coffee seedlings distributed by 2024 and since 2010, 315 million for better yields and more climate resilient varieties.
• 6 countries involved: Côte d’Ivoire, Mexico, Honduras, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, were able to benefit from the effects of this programme to protect human rights in the supply chain, thanks to the collaboration with ILO, ICIP, MDFI3 and Save the Children.
• Over 400,000 hectares were covered by the Nescafé reforestation programme in 2024 (over 9 million from 2022).
• More than 4,900 farmers were reached by Agrinest, a social media platform for connections between farmers and learning about various agricultural techniques in the field in Indonesia Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

The impact in figures

Thanks to the Nescafé programme, 93% of the coffee supply now comes from responsible sources (excluding Nespresso), while 32% of the green coffee comes from cultivation where regenerative farming practices are applied, up from 25% in 2023 and well above the target of 20% originally planned.

Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by 20-40% per kilogram of green coffee, referring to the raw material coming from the origins where primary agricultural greenhouse gas emissions have been collected and monitored, accounting for more than 30% of the green coffee supplied.

Other points of intervention

To help farmers to improve soil health, watermanagement and biodiversity by combining coffee with shade or border trees, support them to plant native trees to capture CO2 in and around coffee farms, improving also biodiversity and water management, restoring vegetation along water margins.

The other key is the financial support in accelerating farmers’ transition to regenerative agriculture practices. Human rights, child protection and women and Youth empowerment is the other face of the sustanaibility medal: so one of the goal is reinforcing monitoring and improving children and workers rights accross the value chain, enhancing business and financial skills through training.

The Nescafé plan involves renovating farms by introducing new and improved coffee varieties, which supports biodiversity while reducing the use of agrochemicals. Ultimately, it is essential to promote the cultivation of different crops within coffee farms to enhance income diversification.

Some further considerations that emerged from the debate

The concept of the scalability of regenerative agricultural models and the measurability of results through metrics allowing for regular audits of progress in the different areas of intervention.

Stewart emphasised the importance of providing training in good agricultural practices alongside information on harmful practices that should be avoided at all costs. The advantages of regenerative agriculture must also be communicated to producers through small pilot experiments that demonstrate on the ground the benefits of investing economic and human resources in regenerative agriculture on a local level.

As Burity pointed out, the implementation of the models must also take into account the specificities of local ecosystems and climate change, which increase vulnerability to crop adversity.

It is crucial to continue investing in the development of varieties that are resistant and adapted to local conditions.

Crop renewal is essential and should be implemented with different criteria depending on the environment and by increasing the planting density gradually. Other practices (grafting, pruning, etc.) must also take into account the peculiarities of the ecosystems and production conditions.

Fiedler also presented some interesting findings from Coffee++, which has trained over 17,000 producers in Côte d’Ivoire, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand to date. The project, which runs until the end of this year, has a budget of €13.4 million, 70% of which is funded by Nestlé.

Through producer empowerment and diversification, income per hectare has doubled in Indonesia and the Philippines over six years, with particularly significant results among women and young people.

In conclusion, Burity reiterated the full integration of regenerative agriculture into Nescafé’s supply chain. A process implemented by constantly engaging with the producer base.

As Stewart emphasised, regenerative agriculture is a win-win strategy and is not particularly expensive. Existing technologies get us far, private capital is waiting and growth is not at odds with GHG emissions.