What’s better for treating depression: microdosing LSD or drinking a cup of coffee? Plus, a $100 million green investment initiative aims to support Vietnamese coffee farmers, and Starbucks Workers United asks customers to delete the Starbucks app.
‘RECAF Project Launched for Vietnamese Coffee Production Areas’ – via Global Coffee Report
Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee producer, but has been plagued by erratic weather extremes in recent years. A severe drought—the worst in almost a decade—impacted consecutive harvests between 2022 and 2024. Last year, 13 major storms hit Vietnam, which left some farms inundated with floodwater.
The climate whiplash makes it hard for farmers to plan. “Some years, we don’t have enough water for irrigation,” Tran Thi Lien, a farmer in Dak Lak province, told Bloomberg in 2023. “And some years, there’s too much rain.”
At the same time, production is increasing amid high commodity prices and growing demand. In 2025, Vietnam exported $7.6 billion worth of coffee, up from $2.7 billion in 2020. Altogether, coffee accounts for 3% of the country’s gross domestic product.
It makes sense that the government would want to both help farmers and mitigate and respond to the effects of climate change. To that end, on Jan. 29, it announced the launch of a $102.4 million green investment initiative in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Known as RECAF, the project will “combat rising greenhouse gas emissions and protect vital forest ecosystems where rural people depend on coffee production for their livelihoods,” according to an IFAD press release. The initiative aims to combat one of the key drivers of global greenhouse gas emissions: land-use change through deforestation and agricultural expansion.
Over six years, IFAD says RECAF seeks to “reduce 6.68 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions,” as well as “restore and improve” 145,000 hectares of agroforestry land, and protect half a million hectares of natural forest.
The RECAF project will impact 420,000 people directly, according to IFAD, and over a million more indirectly. “By integrating forest protection with sustainable farming, RECAF will help farmers increase their incomes while safeguarding forests for future generations,” said Nguyen Thien Van, Vice Chairman of the People’s Committee of Dak Lak Province.
Studies have shown that investing in agroforestry coffee projects, where coffee is grown under forest canopies or beneath shade trees, can both improve biodiversity and soil health. It can also benefit farmers economically by diversifying income streams, for example, by creating shade with fruit trees. Research published last year found that protecting existing forests is more effective than planting trees at reducing carbon emissions.
“IFAD is proud to support this project, which places farmers and forest communities at the centre of solutions that build resilience, protect natural resources, and create sustainable economic opportunities,” said Frew Behabtu, IFAD’s Vietnam country director.
Read more on the coffee climate fund here.
‘Report: Sustainability Must Be Embedded Into Core Buying Practices to Drive Change’ – via Daily Coffee News
Many coffee companies promote corporate social responsibility commitments, such as focusing on social and environmental concerns, as part of their business operations. These CSR commitments often involve funding sustainability projects: For example, Nespresso has an ongoing tree-planting initiative, while JDE Peet’s promotes education for the children of coffee farmers in Uganda.
However, a new report argues that sustainability projects are often standalone initiatives that remain separate from companies’ coffee-sourcing strategies. Instead of individual projects, traders, roasters and retailers should commit to more sustainable coffee-buying practices over the long term.
The report was published by the VOCAL Coffee Alliance, a coalition of civil society members from producing and consuming countries. It was compiled through interviews with producers and other stakeholders in Brazil, Nicaragua, Honduras, Uganda, Indonesia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Sri Lanka.
While recent spikes in commodity prices have benefited some farmers, most smallholders remain unable to earn a living income. This, the report says, is due to structural barriers like extended payment terms, rising costs of tools like fertilizers, and the fact that producers shoulder a disproportionate share of the risk. One bad frost or heatwave, for example, can wipe out a farmer’s entire harvest, and thus a year’s income.
“Producers call on buyers to translate ‘sustainability commitments’ into procurement practices that deliver remunerative prices, faster payments, co-financing for compliance and shared risk mechanisms,” the alliance said in a press release. For example, the report suggests that buyers could share some of the risk by covering producers’ crop insurance or climate change mitigation costs, or by committing to speeding up payments.
During the interviews, producers said they valued long-term, transparent business relationships, fair and predictable pricing, and buyers sharing risk. They also flagged what they called “burdensome” compliance costs associated with new regulations, such as the European Union’s deforestation legislation.
“The coffee sector must move beyond fragmented sustainability projects toward responsible procurement and investment that recognizes producers as essential economic partners whose labor, knowledge, data, and environmental stewardship underpin the entire industry,” the report concludes.
Read the full story on the report’s call for more responsible coffee buying here.
More News
‘UC Davis Library Adds Three Major Collections on Coffee’ – via Daily Coffee News
‘FairWave Specialty Coffee Collective Acquires Joe Van Gogh’ – via Sprudge
‘Pakistan to Become New Home of Rwandan Coffee?’ – via Global Coffee Report
‘20 U.S. Roasters Named 2026 Good Food Awards Coffee Finalists’ – via Daily Coffee News
‘Starbucks Feeling the Heat As More Chains Vie for US Coffee Drinkers’ – via the Associated Press
‘CQI Expands 2026 Global Coffee Fund, Launches Matching Grants’ – via Daily Coffee News
The Week in Coffee Unionizing
Starbucks Workers United has called on customers to delete the Starbucks app from their phones.
The appeal is part of the union’s ongoing strike action as it tries to secure a first contract with the coffee giant.
“We are calling on Starbucks customers everywhere to delete the Starbucks mobile app off your phone,” barista Christi Gomoljak said during a press call last week. “When baristas get a fair contract, you can reload the app on your phone and then finally, use any gift cards that you might have gotten from the holidays. But trust me, coffee with a union contract tastes so much better, and it is worth the wait.”
Unionized Starbucks workers across the country have been on a rolling strike since Nov. 13, demanding that the company negotiate a fair contract. Starbucks blames the union for the lack of progress in negotiations, and downplayed the impact of the strike and the app-deletion call.
“We have not seen — nor do we expect — any impact on customer use of the Starbucks app,” spokesperson Jaci Anderson told HuffPost.
Is Coffee Good For You?
Microdosing, or taking small doses of psychedelics, has become an increasingly popular way to treat depression and other mental health disorders. However, new research from an Australian biotech firm called MindBio Therapeutics found that microdosing LSD may be no more helpful for treating depression than drinking a cup of coffee.
In a trial of 89 adult patients, a caffeine pill given as a placebo outperformed the microdosed LSD, according to MindBio CEO Justin Hanka.
Participants were assessed using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), a commonly used diagnostic tool for evaluating depression. Compared to those given caffeine pills, patients who were given small doses of LSD reported increased feelings of well-being but had lower MADRS scores.
This means, as John Semley writes for Wired, “that a medium-strength cup of coffee may prove more beneficial in treating major depressive disorder than a tiny dose of acid.” The study has yet to be published or peer reviewed.
Caffeine pills are often used as “active placebos” in psychedelic trials because participants expect some effect—more standard placebos like sugar pills don’t work.
Previous research has connected coffee consumption to a lower risk of depression. A 2015 meta-analysis concluded that “coffee and caffeine consumption were significantly associated with decreased risk of depression.” However, other studies have reached the opposite conclusion.
Beyond the Headlines
‘Bold Mold: Exploring The Exciting World Of Koji In Coffee’ by Taylor Bond
‘In Minnesota, the Coffee Community Stands Up to ICE’ by Fionn Pooler
