An important part of the Central America EUDR Learning Community is sharing experiences and learning from others in the coffee supply chain. As such, during a group meeting,  Michael von Luehrte spoke on behalf of the Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council (CECAFÉ) – an organisation that represents 126 members responsible for 96% of national coffee exports to more than 150 countries. He shared how the world’s largest coffee producer is using a combination of sustainability policy, traceability systems, and public–private collaboration to meet the new requirements.

For decades, Brazil has been developing systems for sustainability and traceability in agriculture, giving it a strong foundation to adapt to the EUDR. This long-term focus on data, regulation, and transparency has helped position the country as one of the best prepared globally to meet the new EU standards. Although, of course there are still some challenges.

The scale of coffee production in Brazil

Brazil is the world’s largest producer and exporter of coffee. During the session, data was shared from the Brazilian Agricultural Census.

Brazil has 36 coffee-producing regions that offer a diversity of origins, flavours, and qualities. The country counts around 265,000 coffee farmers, 72% of whom cultivate less than 20 hectares – demonstrating the dominance of small and medium producers in the country. 

The presentation explained how, over the past decades, Brazil has achieved a 55% reduction in coffee area alongside a more than 400% increase in productivity, which is attributed to innovation, technology adoption, and good agricultural practices. In the 2023-24 crop year, exports reached a record 47.3 million 60-kg bags, with 47% of exports (23.6 million bags) exported to the European Union. This makes the EU a priority export destination and highlighting the importance of Brazil being ready for the EUDR to come into force.

 

 

Brazil’s environmental governance 

Brazil’s environmental framework is anchored in the Forest Code which is a law that was introduced in 2012 that requires all rural properties to maintain a Legal Reserve and Areas of Permanent Protection (APPs). The law sets limits on land use, protects native vegetation, and establishes mechanisms to control and penalise illegal deforestation.

The Rural Environmental Registry (CAR), is the national, public, and mandatory electronic registry for all rural properties that plays a key role in supporting this system. It is the federal government’s main tool for monitoring compliance with environmental legislation and provides the foundation for the country’s land-use data.

For example, the data shows that today, 66.3% (564 million hectares) of Brazil’s national territory remains covered by native vegetation. That area is equivalent to the combined surface of 48 European countries. In Minas Gerais alone, protected areas in coffee-producing regions cover 51,500 km², roughly 1.25 times the size of Switzerland.

 

Focusing on productivity

Efficiency is an economic goal, especially to help farmers improve their income. However, efficiency is also an important component of sustainability strategies. Favourable farmer margins and income allow for better compliance with ESG requirements.

With improved practices, coffee cultivation in Brazil can remove around 10.5 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per hectare each year. Coffee producing regions such as Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo illustrate how productivity and preservation can coexist.

In Minas Gerais, coffee is grown on properties that include 9.47 million hectares of preserved native vegetation. Through the SeloVerde MG platform, developed by the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG) and the State Forestry Institute (IEF), more than 115,000 properties have been assessed since 2008, with no recorded deforestation violations. Espírito Santo shows similar progress, with nearly one million hectares of preserved native vegetation across its coffee-growing municipalities.

Traceability through technology and collaboration

The Brazilian Coffee Exporters Council leads the sector’s sustainability and traceability agenda, including the development of the Brazilian Coffee Platform, a system that monitors over 250,000 coffee farmers using georeferenced and satellite data.

The platform integrates information from public databases such as the CAR, enabling real-time analysis of land use, deforestation alerts, and ESG indicators. It also features an alert and risk management system: if a farmer is linked to deforestation or appears on a restricted list, the platform automatically flags it. 

On average 71,000 containers of coffee are exported to the EU each year. Each container includes beans from multiple farmers with an average of 150 different producers per container. That means advanced systems are required to ensure transparency across complex supply chains.

Preparing for EUDR implementation

Brazil exports all seven commodities covered by the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR): coffee, soy, cattle, cocoa, palm oil, wood, and rubber. To coordinate compliance efforts, the Brazilian government established a national EUDR Task Force, led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE), with CECAFÉ representing the coffee sector.

The Brazilian Coffees Traceability Platform, which currently covers 98% of coffee exports to the EU, plays a central role in this process. It has 52 members, including cooperatives and international companies, who are working together under an EUDR Multi-Sector Protocol to align data systems, strengthen monitoring, and improve traceability.

CECAFÉ has several key priorities for Brazil’s coffee sector and preparing for the EUDR. These include:

1. Open dialogue with EU Competent Authorities.
2. Defining what constitutes “insignificant deforestation risk.”
3. Improving importer due diligence systems.
4. Ensuring EU recognition of Brazil’s national databases and public systems as sources of information.
5. Using regional deforestation risk assessments rather than country-level benchmarks.
6. Addressing inaccuracies in existing EU forest cover maps.
7. Managing the additional costs associated with traceability and logistical challenges that come from segregation.

Looking ahead

Brazil’s experience shows how strong environmental laws, technological innovation, and coordinated governance can underpin sustainable coffee production at scale. Most coffee-producing countries don’t compare with the size and scale of Brazil’s sector where collaboration and investment come from across the entire value chain.

However, there are still valuable lessons for other producing countries in how Brazil is preparing for the EUDR, particularly in its long-term commitment to traceability, data systems, and cross-sector coordination. As EUDR implementation advances, the challenge lies in ensuring that data-driven transparency supports smallholder participation and long-term resilience in the global coffee trade.

For more documents and resources on how different actors in the coffee supply chain are preparing for EUDR, click here.

Advances in EUDR: Lessons from Colombia 

As part of the Central America EUDR Learning Community, members met to hear directly from representatives of the coffee sectors in Colombia. The session explored how the country is advancing in its adaptation to the requirements of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) and what lessons can be drawn for other producing regions.

Colombia’s progress: building a deforestation-free coffee sector

Marcela Gaviria Botero, Director of Analysis and Projects at the National Federation of Coffee Growers (FNC), shared Colombia’s approach to aligning its coffee production with EUDR standards.

Colombia has 552,814 coffee producers across the country. More than half of these, 296,400 producers, are small-scale producers that cultivate less than one hectare of land, making the country’s adaptation to the EUDR complex and essential. Around 40% of Colombia’s coffee exports are destined for the European Union, making compliance with the regulation essential to maintaining market access. 

 

To ensure Colombian coffee continues reaching the European market, the FNC has developed a comprehensive strategy aligned with the EU Green Deal. The goal is to demonstrate that Colombian coffee is deforestation-free, while ensuring that adaptation costs do not fall on smallholder families who make up 97% of Colombia’s coffee-growing population. The strategy is designed to:

• Ensure the continued delivery of Colombian coffee to European and other markets without restrictions, and
• Avoid imposing additional costs on smallholders by leveraging public and official information systems.

Deforestation-free commitment

A key pillar of Colombia’s strategy is the georeferencing of production lots, integrated through the SICA (Coffee Information System) platform used by exporters. This digital tool allows traceability of coffee plots and includes data such as grower name, farm location, cultivation area, and official codes from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística or DANE)  for each department and municipality.

• 100% of production data is now georeferenced in SICA.
• For lots larger than 4 hectares, polygon coordinates are provided.
• Data also indicates whether the lot was established before the EUDR baseline date.

This effort is supported by an agreement between the FNC and the Unidad de Planificación Rural Agropecuaria (UPRA), Colombia’s Rural and Agricultural Planning Unit, which ensures the secure and confidential use of producer data and aims to achieve 100% coverage of coffee producers.

Risk analyses indicate that 87% of registered farms have verifiable establishment dates, helping demonstrate compliance with the EUDR’s deforestation-free requirement.

 

Data protection and collaboration

The Habeas Data framework ensures that producer data is collected, managed, and shared in line with Colombian law. So far, 72% of growers have completed data consent registration.

To strengthen monitoring capacity, the FNC has partnered with the Instituto de Hidrología, Meteorología y Estudios Ambientales (IDEAM), Colombia’s Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology, and Environmental Studies, to define deforestation-free coffee zones, beginning with an EU-supported pilot in Huila, a region in southwestern Colombia. The sector is also using tools such as Global Forest Watch for land-use change analysis and providing training for exporters and technical staff.

So far,

• 30,000 coffee growers have been informed about EUDR compliance to date.
• Four national training sessions have been held for the FNC’s Extension Service.
• An ABC guide has been developed for extension workers and rural development promoters to facilitate communication with farmers.

Legal compliance

To legally demonstrate EUDR compliance, Colombia’s approach encompasses environmental protection alongside human rights protections, including land use rights, third-party rights, labour, and indigenous community rights. It also integrates broader regulations related to taxation, anti-corruption, customs, and trade.

Collaboration with national and international partners such as Ministerio de Agricultura y Desarrollo Rural (MADR), which is Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the EU, EFI, and Swisscontact has been central. Together, they are updating the coffee-growing zone data and improving risk assessment and legal reference tools for exporters to Europe.

There is also a big focus on due diligence to ensure that all documentation, traceability systems, and verification processes are aligned for exports to the European Union.

Next steps

Looking ahead, the coffee sector in Colombia has identified key priorities for continued progress:

• Establishing technical tables to ensure coordination and information flow between government, industry, exporters, and producers.
• Developing a single, consistent message for coffee producers to avoid confusion and support compliance across the value chain.

 

For more documents and resources on how different actors in the coffee supply chain are preparing for EUDR, click here.