Smithsonian Bird Friendly® Celebrates 25 Years

This article was written by Vanessa Crooks.

What does it take to grow coffee in a way that is good for birds and other wildlife? The birth of the Bird Friendly certification program brought to reality an effort to make the coffee supply chain more sustainable and protect migratory birds and their habitats at the same time.

A quarter century ago, Smithsonian scientists asked a simple question: could the coffee we drink be cultivated in a way that provides important habitats for migratory birds? The answer, thanks to research in shade-grown coffee farms in Mexico and Guatemala, was an emphatic yes: farms that keep a dense and diverse tree canopy over the coffee plants provide essential habitat for birds similar to that of natural forests.

These discoveries launched the Smithsonian Bird Friendly® certification and, with it, a movement that is still soaring twenty‑five years later.

Now, when consumers see the Bird Friendly certification seal, they can know that the coffee they’re drinking or the chocolate they’re eating is good for biodiversity. The Bird Friendly seal indicates that those coffee or cocoa beans were grown using science-based practices designed to protect habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife.

North America has lost nearly three billion birds since the 1970s. Much of that decline can be traced to the tropics, where intensifying agriculture leads to deforestation and degradation of vital habitats that many birds depend on for their migration journey.

The Bird Friendly program offers an alternative solution—a way to grow coffee and cocoa that protects tropical trees and the birds that depend on them, instead of destroying habitat for agriculture.  

“The best thing a consumer can do is look for Bird Friendly certified coffees and chocolates, which are the only ones with a biodiversity conservation guarantee,” says Smithsonian ecologist and lead researcher of the Bird Friendly program, Ruth Bennett. “Your daily cup really matters.” 

The Bird Friendly certification is also a way for coffee and cocoa producers, importers, brokers, roasters, and chocolate makers to access new specialty markets and higher prices.  

“Our Smithsonian research showing that shade coffee benefits biodiversity placed Bird Friendly certification in a unique position to reach environmentally concerned consumers wanting to ‘vote with their wallet’,” said Robert Rice, co-founder of the Smithsonian Bird Friendly program with Russell Greenberg. 

Twenty-five years later, over 4,000 producers grow Bird Friendly coffee and cocoa in 14 countries around the world, and over 100 roasters and 26 importers sell Bird Friendly coffee in the USA, Canada, Europe and Japan. Thanks to this growing community, Bird Friendly continues to set the standard on how to protect biodiversity while supporting resilient and sustainable livelihoods. 

What is Bird Friendly? 

Smithsonian Bird Friendly certified farms are organic, deforestation-free, and conserve biodiversity through agroforestry or forest conservation practices. Farms certified through the agroforestry pathway must maintain an average of 40% shade over coffee and 30% over cocoa; ten species of trees per hectare; and the majority of all trees should be native. Farms certified through the forest conservation pathway set aside 40% of a farmer’s land as forest and must have a sustainable management plan in place. All farms must meet organic certification requirements, so that insects—a food source for birds—remain in the landscape; and all farms must show that no deforestation, or the conversion of forest to agriculture, has occurred within the last ten years.  

These criteria are based on decades of extensive Smithsonian field research, earning the program a reputation as the environmental gold standard for coffee and cocoa. As farmers protect healthy habitat on their land, the birds return the favor by providing essential ecosystem services, like pollinating fruit trees, dispersing seeds, and eating and controlling crop-damaging pests like the coffee borer beetle. 

Why choosing Bird Friendly matters 

For 25 years, the Bird Friendly certification has dedicated scientific research to protect migratory birds and tropical wildlife, but also to building more resilient coffee and cocoa supply chains.  

For growers, being Bird Friendly is as much a philosophy as a business decision. Certified beans translate into better incomes, healthier soils, and landscapes alive with birdsong.  

“Bird Friendly is not just another requirement; it is a way of reaffirming that coffee can be a vehicle for conservation," says Mildred Daza, a producer from Hacienda Santa Maria in Santander, Colombia. “For us, being part of this certification is a way to give value to the landscape, wildlife and coffee culture that we have inherited and want to preserve.” 

Consumers also play an important role: by choosing to spend their money on certified products that support sustainability and biodiversity, they also support the producers, roasters and importers who are implementing best practices and striving to become better stewards to the environment. 

“I would really hope that all of us just take a moment drinking that morning cup of coffee to appreciate the coffee farmers that are growing it, the families that will continue to manage these lands and the birds that sing above the coffee as it’s grown,” said Bennett. 

As Bird Friendly continues to raise awareness about the many benefits of the certification to birds, biodiversity, farmers, and the planet, the program also expands its impact and market to meet growing demand for certified products and make them more readily available to consumers. Buying Bird Friendly certified products is an easy conservation action with real, meaningful impact on birds and biodiversity.  

“We want people to be on the lookout for the Bird Friendly label on the coffee and chocolate they consume,” says Melissa Mazurkewicz, the Bird Friendly program manager for Latin America. 

Consuming certified products is one way that you can be a part of Bird Friendly. Learn about the seven simple actions to live Bird Friendly, and celebrate the next 25 years of the Bird Friendly coffee and cocoa certification program. 

The Bird Friendly History 

The idea of a Bird Friendly certification began in the year 1987 with Russell Greenberg, ornithologist and founder of the Smithsonian’s Migratory Bird Center in Washington, DC. Greenberg, whose early work began at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, is credited with starting the movement for shade-grown coffee, after his research in Mexico showed that complex and diverse agricultural ecosystems can support a higher volume and diversity of birds.  

In 1996, Greenberg, Rice, and the Migratory Bird Center hosted the first Sustainable Coffee Congress in Washington, DC, convening 270 representatives from the coffee industry from 19 countries, to make the case for shade-grown coffee and promote a science-based certification system for both producers and consumers to adopt.  

"Coffee is turning out to be quite a cosmic issue,” Greenberg once said. “The way it's grown, marketed, and consumed has implications for the environmental health of the world."  

The Bird Friendly seal officially debuted in 2000, providing a pathway for environmentally conscious producers to earn a market premium for their certified coffees. Rice began outreach to the specialty coffee industry and the organic coffee community to build a robust supply of Bird Friendly coffee, and to drive consumer demand among birding and environmental groups.  

As the shade-grown coffee movement continued to grow, more roasters adopted Bird Friendly coffee in North America as additional farms in Central and South America became certified. Bird Friendly entered the Japanese market in 2005, through a partnership with importer SC Foods and roasters Ogawa Coffee and Camel Coffee. 

Bird Friendly continued to back the certification criteria through research; a 2021 study on cacao farms by Bennett and a 2024 study in coffee farms showed that a Bird Friendly farm could support up to four times more than the number of bird species found on a sun-grown coffee farm. 

Starting in 2018, the program focused its marketing efforts on increasing consumer demand for Bird Friendly certified coffee. This led to campaigns such as “Drink Bird Friendly,” launching a new seal and adding the tagline “Proudly Serving Biodiversity”.  

In 2021, the Bird Friendly certification expanded to include cocoa, which, like coffee, can grow productively in agroforestry systems. As part of its extension program, a new Latin American office opened at STRI in 2023. A second route for certification, the forest conservation pathway, was piloted and launched between 2023 and 2025. 

Now entering its 25th year, research continues to drive the program’s direction and standards, seeking to maximize conservation impact in tropical working landscapes. The certification processes continue to evolve. With a million-dollar grant from NASA, the Bird Friendly research team and collaborators are working to develop a tool that would allow auditors to remotely monitor shade tree structure on coffee farms. One of the desired outcomes is that this tool will reduce certification costs and make it easier for smallholders to participate.   

The Bird Friendly program also provides direct extension and outreach services to coffee and cocoa farmers. Producers gain access to training and tools on how to implement best management practices, effectively balance productivity with biodiversity conservation, and work towards certification.  

“We’re trying to take Smithsonian science to producers, local extension and industry to help reduce barriers to adopting practices that are good for birds and biodiversity across the coffee and cocoa supply chains,” said Mazurkewicz. 

The Smithsonian Bird Friendly® program protects biodiversity and wildlife habitat in coffee and cocoa growing landscapes through research, extension, and certification. Bird Friendly is a program of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, DC and is supported by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City, Panama.