‘Winners and losers’: The world of coffee is being reordered by EU laws to stop cutting of forests

Le Van Tam is no stranger to how the vagaries of global trade can determine the fortunes of small coffee farmers like him. Then, in 2019, he teamed up with Le Dinh Tu of Aeroco Coffee, an organic exporter to Europe and the U.S., and adopted more sustainable methods, turning his coffee plantation (field) into a a sun-dappled forest. The coffee grows side-by-side with tamarind trees that add nitrogen to the soil and provide support for black pepper vines.