Life cycle assessment of Seed-to-Cup specialty coffee cultivated by smallholders in Yemen

Purpose
Yemen’s specialty coffee industry is recognized as a vehicle for sustainable development in the face of the country’s political, social, economic, and environmental challenges. The country has been subjected to nearly a decade of civil conflict that has led to recognition as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Amid Yemen’s challenges, coffee cultivation emerges as an opportunity with significant potential for positive impacts on the country’s economy and rural communities. This research examines the environmental performance of specialty coffee cultivated by smallholder farmers in Yemen that use traditional cultivation methods and examines the environmental impact of the integrated Seed-to-Cup sourcing model. This study aims to establish a baseline of the environmental performance of coffee cultivation in Yemen, providing insights into its potential contribution to the sustainable development of the country.

Methods
This study assessed the environmental performance of 1 kg specialty-grade Arabica coffee beans, cultivated in Yemen. It was conducted in collaboration with Qima Coffee, an international ethical coffee sourcing, marketing, and development organization. The organization’s sourcing philosophy is based on the Seed-to-Cup relationship model, which aims to shorten the supply chain, deliver more value to farmers and buyers, and strengthen transparency throughout. The proximity framework by Edelmann et al. (2020) was applied to capture the proximity of the trade model, and life cycle assessment (LCA) was applied from cradle to gate to measure environmental performance.

Results and discussion
The carbon footprint was found to be 3.14 kg CO2 eq/kg green coffee, with the cultivation stage contributing over 90% of the impact in 15 out of 18 impact categories. Despite low nitrogen fertilizer use, low yields result in high nitrogen input per kg, making it an environmental hotspot. Conversely, unmechanized cultivation and dry processing significantly reduce environmental impacts compared to other studies. The Seed-to-Cup model, high in proximity, enables transparency, traceability, and smallholder inclusion, supporting accurate impact assessment and mitigation strategies.

Conclusion
This study demonstrates that improving management practices in cultivation and fertilization is crucial to improving the environmental performance of coffee. High proximity trade models, such as Seed-to-Cup, enable collaboration to improve environmental performance, as well as deliver social and economic benefits. Avenues for future research include value-chain dynamics and more research into high-yield, high carbon stock farming systems.