Too Big to Be Organic
From backbone to bottleneck
For years, organic coffee depended on group certification systems that made smallholder participation possible at scale. Cooperatives certified hundreds of farmers under one Internal Control System, turning complexity into something manageable.
- Costs were shared across many producers.
- Compliance was handled collectively.
- Even very small farms could access export markets.
This system, designed for efficient upscaling, was the foundation of organic coffee supply in many regions.
A new definition of “small”
With the EU Organic Regulation now fully enforced, this foundation is being redefined. The key change is a strict size threshold.
Farms above roughly 4 to 5 hectares
- Cannot remain in group certification.
- Must certify individually.
- Must absorb full certification costs.
This creates a hard cut. A farmer with four hectares remains inside the system. A farmer with five hectares may be excluded. What looks like a technical adjustment in Europe becomes a structural break in access at origin.
Aproeco: stability within limits
At Aproeco in Moyobamba, the system still holds. Most producers remain within the new size limits, allowing the group certification to continue and organic status to be renewed: Internal Control Systems remain intact and export relationships continue without interruption.
At the same time, a new dynamic becomes visible. Being very small is now effectively rewarded, which in practice discourages even modest growth and locks the smallest organic coffee farmers into their current scale. Stability exists, but only within a narrow range that leaves little room for development.
CEPRO Yanesha: the threshold effect
At CEPRO Yanesha in Villa Rica, the regulation cuts directly through the structure of the organization. Several producers sit exactly at the new threshold. Some have already lost access to group certification. Others are forced into individual certification. Costs per finca increase sharply
The Marin family finca has already completed individual certification. It shows that compliance remains possible, but at a cost level that fundamentally changes the economics. For others, the transition remains uncertain, with real risk of losing market access altogether.
SCPNCK: when certification cannot happen
In eastern Congo, the situation is not defined by farm size or changes in European law, but by conflict. Our partners at SCPNCK have lived under war for decades, and under M23 occupation for the past year. Certification bodies cannot enter the region. Inspections cannot take place: No inspection means no certification. Organic status has lapsed.
The partners in conflict zones are once again hit hardest by a regulatory system that applies globally equal premises as a presumption, without accounting for the realities on the ground.
6. A more restricted market
Across these contexts, a clear pattern emerges. The new regulation reshapes access to the organic market:
- Certification costs increase.
- Access becomes more selective.
- Risk shifts from collective systems to individual producers.
Those most affected are not large estates, but farmers in transition. Producers who have grown carefully over years, who operate at the margins of new size thresholds, or who face unstable conditions. The regulation does not primarily filter for farming practices, but for structural fit. Organic certification is no longer defined only by how coffee is produced, but by whether producers remain within a narrower and more rigid system.
As a company, we once again have to navigate a changing regulatory landscape that disadvantages producers while balancing the interests of producers and roasters. We are grateful and proud to work with partners who continue to supply our network with organic certified coffee.
At the same time, we are concerned about the loss of certified suppliers, as this system change structurally penalizes those who have done exactly what development has long encouraged: to grow.
