“Sustainable management has brought real economic benefits to my farm, and my conviction in sustainability only grows every day.” This is the testimony of Guilherme Foresti, 31 years old, administrator of Fazenda Lobo, located in Três Corações, in Minas Gerais, and who is part of a selected group of producers who serve Nespresso – and who have been changing the reality of their own business by investing in sustainable practices.
Fazenda Lobo recorded an average production of 37.15 bags per hectare (sc/ha) in the 2024/2025 biennium, an increase of 22% compared to the average production of 30.4 sc/ha in the 2024/2025 biennium. The impact of regenerative practices is even more impressive when analyzing the farm’s average production before implementing the measures: in the 2019/2020 biennium production was 26.85 sc/ha, 38.3% lower than the last biennium.
The focus on regenerative practices by Foresti, which began in 2022, came after a frost in 2021, which caused the loss of 40% of Fazenda Lobo’s production that year – a production that had been a record, but which succumbed due to the climatic event – and condemned the farm’s finances throughout 2022 and until 2023, considering that coffee cultivation requires at least two years to recover and return to production.
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“I started working on the agroforestry project, which is the cultivation of shaded coffee in the middle of the forest after the frost. And only today, in 2025, did I start to harvest the fruits: a super special coffee that grows in an area with protection from frost and a decrease in temperature”, said Foresti.
The interviewee adopts several sustainable management practices on his 100-hectare property. Agroforestry is present in 5% of the area and, in the remainder, other practices are used, such as planting cover crops between coffee rows to promote soil regeneration, nutrient cycling and soil decompression. These plants function as a natural form of irrigation, maintaining soil moisture and bringing nutrients from deep layers to the surface in about 90 days.
Furthermore, coffee washing is done with water recirculation and reuse, optimizing the use of water resources. The practices complement the afforestation in conventional areas, the reforestation of the farm and the protection of springs, reinforcing the commitment to environmental conservation.
The cost of sustainable management – and the financial return
Adopting agroforestry has a financial cost right away. This is because, to plant the trees, it is necessary to take space from the coffee, in a proportion of one row of trees for every eight or nine rows of coffee. “This implies an immediate loss of 8% to 12% of productivity, depending on the case”, explains Foresti.
Still, the producer is a defender of investment, because he sees the benefits brought on a daily basis that, ultimately, allowed the reduction of dependence on credit – – from Fazenda Lobo, with a relevant gain in resilience in the coffee growing areas, called the “coffee plot”, on the property.
“As our focus is 100% coffee, after the frost we had to strictly control expenses, reduce fixed costs and use credit lines. This is a common path among producers and explains the financial dependence of those who have been in the sector for many years, which compromises the economic sustainability of the business. Today, with production well above the market average, we were able to overcome these difficulties”, he explains.
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The new generation
For Foresti, the sustainability and regenerative agriculture movement has taken a real leap in recent years, due to the visible impacts of climate change, but there are still those who do not see the value in sustainable management, including among younger farmers.
“There are people who think that regenerative agriculture is nonsense and brings no returns and continue to manage things like their father did a long time ago. I always try to encourage new and sustainable practices in my business. My farm is evolving year after year, climbing higher and higher levels – and this inspires, especially friends like me, who are the same age and are also children of producers. Of course, there is still a division: some remain resistant, but, because of climate change, even this group is already giving in. I don’t need to show numbers I only talk about how much we produce, even in the midst of adverse weather conditions. And then I ask: ‘Do you still doubt the practices?’”
“Producers like Guilherme help to popularize concern about environmental and sustainable impact, because the new generation embraces innovation much more frequently and really seeks to act to make a difference”, adds Daniel Motyl, executive manager of Green Coffee at Nespresso Brasil.
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Fazenda Lobo is one of 550 Brazilian properties that are part of Nespresso’s AAA Sustainable Quality Program, which has 140,000 farms around the world. The company offers participating producers technical and financial support, helping them implement practices that preserve soil, increase biodiversity and improve coffee quality and yield.
New producers enter the program when there is space, either through the departure of others who do not meet the requirements, or through an invitation to producers aligned with the program’s objectives, who are recommended by coffee distributors (intermediaries between Nespresso and the producers).
“A rigorous checklist is applied to evaluate social (compliance with regulations) and environmental aspects. On the environmental side, data is collected on regenerative practices, such as the use of biologicals, cover crops and compounds, to create a regenerative ranking. Only producers who raise the group average (cluster) are invited, maintaining a high standard of sustainability and quality”, explains Motyl.
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There are also other investments made jointly by producers and Nespresso, which aim to protect the crop and even increase its productivity at one end, and reduce carbon emissions at the other, helping the company achieve its sustainability objectives – maintaining a high quality supply of its raw material.
“Around 70% of carbon emissions come from the use of synthetic fertilizers. To reduce this emission, Nespresso offers subsidies to producers to test new fertilization practices, such as the use of a compound of coffee straw with manure – which pays off the initial investment in around two years and can be more economical than fertilizers. Nespresso made a co-investment of R$5 million together with 130 producers, totaling R$10 million, to promote these practices and achieve the goal of reducing emissions”, added Motyl.
