Sustainability & Traceability
Farming for the Future. Traceable to the Farm.
BKC's sustainability model is built on the Farmer Field School, digital traceability, and a commitment to the land that produces our coffee.
900
Farmers in our network
200
Farmer Field School groups
2020
Deforestation-free baseline year
Sustainability at BKC is not a certification — it is the operating model. From the way we train farmers to the digital infrastructure that traces every lot to its origin, our approach is designed to produce coffee that is good for the land, good for the farmer, and good for the buyer.
Our Approach
Four Pillars of Sustainable Practice
Farmer Field School
The FAO-proven Farmer Field School model organizes our 900 farmers into learning communities that meet regularly on each member's farm. The purpose is practical: farmers assess, prescribe, and implement measures to improve the health of their coffee trees. The rotational hosting model also incentivizes each farmer to implement previous recommendations before their farm is visited.
Agronomic Support
We offer training on fertilizer use, pesticide use, and pests and disease management. We also work with partners to support farmers in accessing fertilizer when they need it — reducing the gap between knowledge and practice that limits yields on many smallholder farms.
Shade Trees & Climate Resilience
We promote the planting of shade trees across our farmer network as a direct response to the looming threat of climate change. Shade trees regulate temperature, improve soil health, and protect coffee trees from the increasingly erratic weather patterns affecting the Elgon region.
Digital Traceability
Through our digital infrastructure, we profile every farmer through intensive data collection — complying with data protection requirements while building a traceability record that links each lot to specific farmers and farms. This enables us to demonstrate that our coffee comes from farms that have not succumbed to deforestation since 2020, meeting the requirements of the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR).
Compliance
EU Deforestation Regulation Ready
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires exporters to demonstrate that commodities are not linked to deforestation. BKC's digital farmer profiling system is designed to meet this requirement — providing geo-referenced farm data and a traceable supply chain that gives our buyers the documentation they need to import with confidence.
What this means for buyers
- Geo-referenced farm data for every lot
- Digital farmer profiles linked to specific parcels
- Deforestation-free supply chain from 2020 baseline
- Documentation ready for EU import compliance