The production of specialty coffees is an important activity for farm incomes and should be encouraged. However, it is necessary that this process may respect the principles based on the economic, environmental, and social axes of sustainability. This research was carried out aiming to generate the initial benchmark of the sustainability of four farms in the municipality of Afonso Cláudio, State of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The System for Assessing Sustainability Standards for Coffee Growing in Espírito Santo, a tool in the format of an electronic spreadsheet, was used in order to quantify the scores of the different standards. The results showed a gap in the three axes with intervention needs mainly related to economical standards, followed by environmental, and social ones. The main interferences have been related to the quality of coffee beans management, costs and incomes of the farms, improvement in harvest and post-harvest processes, training in the use of manual machines, and the correct use of pesticides. Different intervention techniques will be offered to coffee-growers for Viçosi et al.
The growing demand for better quality coffees has driven changes in the coffee production chain, mainly through the adoption of new technologies and management. Thus, this work was carried out aiming to evaluate the physical and sensorial quality of Arabica coffee cultivars, submitted to natural and pulped post-harvesting processing. The experiment was carried out following a randomized block design with three replications, in a split-plot scheme, with the plots consisting of five cultivars (Catucaí 2 SL, Catucaí 24/137, Catuaí IAC 44, Arara and Acauã); and the subplots by two processes, pulped and natural cherry. The harvest was carried out manually, harvesting the cherry fruits (ripe) in a sieve. The coffees were processed by the natural and pulped cherry methods. Drying was carried out on a covered suspended terrace, until the grains reached 11% ± 1 moisture (wet basis, bu). The following evaluations were carried out: sensorial analysis of the beverage according to the SCAA methodology, analysis of grain sieves according to the Official Brazilian Coffee Classification Protocol. The results show that all evaluated cultivars have a great potential for the production of specialty coffees in that studied environment. Differences were observed between cultivars both in the sensory quality of the beverage and in the grain size. Cultivar Arara presents a general average of final beverage grade higher than the other cultivars.
Ecological corridors function as a viable way to mitigate the environmental impact arising from forest fragmentation by interconnecting forest fragments through various techniques. In this context, the objective of this study is to propose a route for the implementation of an ecological corridor in the Itapemirim river watershed. The specific objectives were: (i) to delimit the permanent preservation areas (APP) of the Itapemirim river watershed and compare land use and land cover in the delimited areas; (ii) to calculate landscape ecology indices and select the forest fragments with the highest potential for ecological corridor implementation using Fuzzy logic; (iii) to assess costs and trace the best route for ecological corridor implementation, considering distance and physical impediments; (iv) to assess land costs and expropriation costs to delimit the ecological corridor in the study area. To map land use and land cover, the MapBiomas platform was used, based on Landsat 8 satellite images. The permanent preservation areas were delimited according to criteria established by Law No. 12.651 of May 25, 2012, which establishes parameters, definitions, and limits for APP. The characterization and structural quantification of some landscape ecology indices were performed using the QGIS 3.26 computational application, through the LecoS 3.0.1 plugin and Fragstats 4.2. The connected forest fragments were the Caparaó National Park, the Serra das Torres State Natural Monument, and the fragments selected through the application of Fuzzy logic to the landscape ecology indices. The corridor was delimited according to the lowest cost route, considering land use and land cover, APP, fragment potential, slope, and subnormal clusters. For each cost raster image, its respective statistical weights were calculated using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) hierarchical method, as well as for the analysis of priority areas for forest restoration, considering land use and land cover, APP, pedology, lithology, and biological importance. The interconnection between protected areas and fragments with the ecological corridor followed the orientation described by CONAMA nº 09/96. Based on the development of the work, the following results were identified: the highest land use and land cover class is pasture. Of the area designated for permanent preservation, 68.58% is in conflicting use with the legislation. The bare land value per hectare of the pasture class is the second highest among the bare land value per LULC values, representing 64.28% of the total. The priority area map showed that 31.86% of the area was classified as of very high or high importance and 42.97% as low or very low priority for forest restoration. Thus, it is concluded that the least cost path algorithm associated with the result generated by the multi-criteria decision method (AHP) constitutes an important tool for planning and implementing an ecological network by taking into account the primary factors for decision-making regarding the location of the best route.
Coffee growing is an important activity for the income of farms and the production of specialty coffees should be encouraged. However, it is necessary that this process respects the principles based on the economic, environmental, and social axes of sustainability. This research was carried out in the municipality of Conceição do Castelo, State of Espírito Santo, Brazil aiming to assess the initial benchmark of the sustainability of three farms. The results showed a gap in the three axes with intervention needs mainly related to economic standards, followed by social and environmental. Different interventions and adaptations need to be used on each farm aiming to reach better levels of adequacy according to sustainability criteria; however, the values of the families and their limitations must be respected, particularly the economic, social, and cultural conditions. The three coffee farms need adjustments for the production of specialty coffees, mainly related to economic criteria. In this way, farms will be able to reach new markets, add value to coffee beans, increase farm income and develop sustainability.
The coffee production chain has great socio-economic importance in Brazil, generating foreign exchange with great job-generating capacity. The Brazilian coffee production is circa 2.863 k tons and coffee research has contributed to the development of new technologies in order to increase yield. However, the size of plots used for coffee experiments has been variable and mostly based on the empirical researcher's experience. Therefore, this research was carried out aiming to determine the optimal size of experimental plots to evaluate field growing parameters of Arabica coffee. The modified maximum curvature model and the comparison of variances were the methods used. It is concluded that 2, 3, 3, and 6 plants per useful experimental plot of Arabica coffee are enough to evaluate the field growing parameters plant height, plant canopy diameter, vigor, and wet mass, respectively by the method of modified maximum curvature. Two plants per experimental plot were required when using the variance comparison method to the parameters plant height, and plant canopy diameter, and 4 plants were enough to the parameters vigor and wet mass. In general, four useful plants per experimental plot were enough using the variance comparison method and six useful plants when using the modified maximum curvature method.
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