Bossa Coffee Company

Continuing our series of posts from our recent trip to Brazil 🇧🇷☕️

When we travel through Mogiana, there are a few traditions and partnerships that we come across again and again — and one of my favourites is the relationship between coffee farmers and local beekeepers. 🐝🌱

In many farms, beekeepers place native stingless bee colonies among the coffee plants during flowering. In return, the farmers can receive honey from the hives — but the real benefit goes far beyond that.

These little pollinators play an important role in the coffee ecosystem. Research by Embrapa and partner institutions has shown that managed pollination with native stingless bees can increase Arabica coffee production by up to 67%.

In the study, bee colonies were introduced before flowering at around 10 colonies per hectare, and researchers observed higher production in coffee branches closer to the colonies.

It’s such a beautiful example of how agriculture can work with nature rather than against it — supporting biodiversity while potentially improving productivity at the same time. 🌿🐝☕️

And, of course, there’s the added bonus of some very delicious honey. 🍯

These are the kinds of details we love discovering when visiting producers in Brazil: small partnerships, local knowledge and practices that connect coffee farming with the wider ecosystem around it.

More stories from Mogiana and Cerrado coming soon. 🇧🇷

Source: DATAGRO / Embrapa