Running the risk to lose access to the European market
In the Peruvian region of San Martín, which is part of the Amazon biome, Raúl Gonzalez Diaz grows shade-grown coffee on a 5-hectare agroforestry farm he inherited from his father. This land, once known for illicit crops, today tells a very different story. Raúl and his wife Nancy have transformed it into a paradise for high-quality, sustainably grown coffee, protecting the forest while generating a stable income.
Raúl sells part of his harvest to a large international trader, but also processes and sells packaged coffee directly on his farm. His coffee is highly valued in European markets for its flavor and the agroecological approach that supports its production.
However, Raúl runs the risk of losing access to the European market due to the technical difficulties in implementing the new European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which, according to the recent European Parliament decision, will enter into force on December 30, 2026. The law prohibits imports linked to deforestation after December 2020 and requires buyers to provide precise georeferenced evidence that farms are free from recent clear-cutting; a technical barrier that could jeopardize the success Raúl has achieved with so much effort. And Raúl isn’t the only one.
Current monitoring tools missclassify
Herein lies the problem: current geospatial monitoring tools have difficulties accurately showing what type of cover is found within small-scale farms, particularly coffee and cocoa grown in agroforestry systems. Global reference maps, such as Hansen’s Global Forest Change dataset, are not sufficient. They rely on medium-resolution images and machine learning, which often misclassifies agroforestry areas as deforested land or overlooks actual deforestation. Even selective pruning of old trees can be misinterpreted as deforestation. These false positives unfairly label sustainably managed plots as deforested.
In Raúl’s case, official satellite maps classify his agroforestry plots as forest in 2020, falsely suggesting that his coffee was planted on recently deforested land, despite the shade coffee having been established years earlier.
Based on the results from our evaluation of false positives in the selected pilot areas, we see an exceptionally high proportion of inaccurate deforestation alerts (55% in Peru and 78% in Honduras). This demonstrates that the most immediate threat faced by small-scale producers is not actual deforestation, but exclusion from markets due to systemic monitoring errors.
Boukje Theeuwes, Solidaridad Europe’s Head of Policy Influencing.
Farm2Forest Link combines GIS with local knowledge
To prevent farmers who have not deforested after 2020 from being excluded from the European market, because current tools do not reflect their reality, Solidaridad is developing Farm2Forest Link as part of the Protect Forests and Farmers project.
This methodology is based on years of experience monitoring land use changes of small-scale properties. It combines advanced GIS (Geographic Information System) technology with local knowledge. In other words, it integrates high-resolution satellite imagery with field-validation feeding new algorithms to strengthen the consistency between satellite information and productive reality. This unique approach allows for high accuracy in distinguishing coffee or cocoa agroforestry systems from natural forest.
The project’s first pilot phase is validating the methodology. The entire process was executed using cloud platforms and machine learning algorithms, establishing an efficient, traceable, and replicable workflow.
Upon completion, Farm2Forest Link will provide EU operators and local partners with three types of high-precision cartographic layers—Forest, Non-Forest, and Deforestation—over a total area of 80,000 km², including production areas in San Martín and the Central Jungle of Peru, as well as Copán, Lempira, Ocotepeque, and El Paraíso in Honduras.
Nearly 28,000 small-scale coffee and cocoa farmers in Honduras and Peru will benefit from these maps and will be able to demonstrate compliance with EUDR. The programme includes raising awareness of 9,000 farmers on EUDR and training of 1,050 farmers on sustainable cultivation practices. Solidaridad is looking for ways to expand the programme.
“I feel proud and grateful. We feel that we are making progress as a cooperative. The goal is to get ahead”, commented Adan Varela, member of the Honduran coffee coöperative COMICLOL.
Connection with the European market
At the other end of the supplychain, Solidaridad plays a fundamental role in mitigating the risk of exclusion from the European market for thousands of coffee and cocoa farmers. By providing operators reliable field-validated data, Solidaridad supports companies in the coffee and cocoa sectors to comply with EUDR and avoid irresponsible disengagement of small farmers in their supply chains.
In short, the EUDR represents an important opportunity by stimulating demand for deforestation-free production. The mere fact that coffee and chocolate companies must know the origin of their raw materials is a great advance. However, to seize this opportunity, companies and governments must invest in high-quality implementation through collaboration with small-scale farmers.
Accurate monitoring tools, such as the Farm2Forest Link, enable European coffee and cocoa companies to meet EUDR compliance requirements while ensuring small-scale producers are not unfairly excluded from the market.
Boukje Theeuwes, Head of Policy Influencing, Solidaridad Europe.
Contact
To learn more about the Farm2Forest Link, or if you need support in improving the inclusivity of your sourcing while preparing for EUDR implementation, please reach out to Boukje Theeuwes, Solidaridad’s Head of Policy Influencing, at boukje.theeuwes@solidaridadnetwork.org.
You can also contact Boukje directly by calling our office: +31 (0)30 272 0313.