Lavazza | Mercon diversified coffee cropping concepts in Nicaragua.
Climate-resilient, low-carbon cropping concept design for two distinct Nicaraguan coffee contexts: Arabica in the Pacific highlands and Robusta in the hotter Atlantic lowlands.
Working under the Terra Genesis banner, Regenerates supported Mercon Coffee Group, Lavazza, and local partner CISA with context assessment, field visits, introductory regenerative agriculture training, and the design of diversified cropping concepts for smallholder coffee systems in Nicaragua. For each coffee context, the team developed three concept variations — from simpler commercial diversification to more highly diversified, food-sovereignty-oriented systems — and assessed them through carbon and financial modeling to support future-proof, regenerative resilience.
Two coffee contexts, one resilience question.
Mercon supplies Lavazza with Arabica and Robusta coffees grown by smallholder farmers in Nicaragua. The engagement explored how these sourcing systems could become more low-carbon, future-proof, diversified, and resilient through regenerative cropping system design.
The challenge was that the two coffee systems were rooted in very different production contexts. Arabica was grown in the Pacific highlands, while Robusta was grown in hotter Atlantic lowland conditions. Climate, ecology, soils, farm realities, and management requirements differed significantly between the two.
The design question was therefore not simply how to make “coffee” regenerative. It was how to create context-specific cropping concepts for each coffee type and production landscape, while balancing several real-world priorities: commercial diversification, farmer manageability, food security, ecological function, and carbon impact.
For each context, the team developed three cropping concept variations, ranging from simpler, commercially oriented diversification to more complex, highly diversified systems with a stronger food-sovereignty focus. The concepts then needed to be assessed financially and through carbon modeling, so Mercon and Lavazza could compare design options as practical transition pathways rather than abstract regenerative ideas.
From field context to testable cropping-system options.
Regenerates worked with Mercon, Lavazza, CISA, and the Terra Genesis team to translate low-carbon, future-proof regenerative sourcing goals into place-based cropping concept variations that could be compared, modeled, and prepared for future pilot testing.
Stakeholder alignment
Aligned with Mercon, Lavazza, CISA, and local partners around the goals of the engagement, including low-carbon production, future-proof sourcing, regenerative resilience, and context-specific design.
Field and context assessment
Conducted field visits and context assessment across the Arabica and Robusta production areas to understand climate, ecology, farm realities, constraints, and design opportunities.
Regenerative agriculture training
Delivered introductory regenerative agriculture training for Mercon technical staff, building shared language and practical grounding for engaging with the cropping concepts.
Cropping concept design
Developed diversified regenerative cropping concepts for both Arabica and Robusta systems, each grounded in the realities of its production context.
Scenario variation development
Created three concept variations for each coffee context, ranging from simpler commercial diversification to more highly diversified food-sovereignty-oriented systems.
Carbon and financial modeling
Modeled projected carbon impacts and financial implications for each concept variation, helping partners compare transition options on ecological, commercial, and practical terms.
Cropping concepts, field context, and transition modeling.
Selected images and design outputs from field visits, Arabica and Robusta context assessment, regenerative agriculture training, diversified cropping concept development, and the carbon and financial modeling used to compare scenario variations.
Six cropping concept variations across two coffee contexts.
Design, training, and modeling outputs that gave Mercon and Lavazza a grounded basis for exploring low-carbon, future-proof regenerative transition across two Nicaraguan coffee systems.
Arabica cropping concept set
Three diversified regenerative concept variations tailored to the Pacific highland Arabica context, ranging from simpler commercial diversification to more highly diversified production-system design.
Robusta cropping concept set
Three diversified regenerative concept variations tailored to the hotter Atlantic lowland Robusta context, reflecting its distinct climate, production conditions, and management realities.
Field and context assessment
A practical reading of the opportunities, constraints, and design implications specific to each coffee context, informed by field visits and local partner engagement.
Regenerative training materials
Introductory regenerative agriculture training for Mercon technical staff, supporting shared understanding and future implementation capacity.
Financial modeling
Modeling of the financial implications and viability of each concept variation, helping compare commercial attractiveness, management complexity, and transition potential.
Carbon impact projections
Projected carbon impacts for the concept variations, supporting evaluation of low-carbon sourcing, resilience, and insetting potential.
From regenerative ambition to testable cropping-system options.
Design options became concrete.
The work translated low-carbon and regenerative resilience goals into six tangible cropping concept variations across Arabica and Robusta production contexts.
Each context had its own pathway.
Arabica and Robusta were not treated as one coffee template. Each concept set was grounded in the climate, farm realities, and production conditions of its own region.
Trade-offs became visible.
The three variation levels made it possible to compare simpler commercial diversification with more complex, food-sovereignty-oriented systems, including differences in manageability and commercial attractiveness.
Carbon and financial implications could be compared.
Modeling helped partners evaluate each scenario on ecological and commercial terms, rather than relying only on qualitative preference.
Technical teams gained implementation grounding.
Introductory training and field-based assessment helped Mercon staff build a shared regenerative frame for future pilot-site development and farmer engagement.
Regenerative design has to make trade-offs visible.
A resilient cropping system is not created by adding more species for its own sake. It has to be designed for the climate, production context, farmer realities, commercial goals, and food-security priorities of a specific place.
For buyers and suppliers, the critical question is not only which regenerative design looks best on paper. It is which pathway is practical, financeable, climate-relevant, and manageable enough to test with real farmers. By developing a spectrum of cropping concept variations and modeling their carbon and financial implications, the work helped turn regenerative ambition into design options that could be compared, piloted, and adapted.
Designing regenerative coffee systems for Nicaragua meant working across two distinct production contexts and making the trade-offs explicit.
The work translated field assessment, technician training, species selection, and modeling into cropping concept variations that could be compared, tested, and adapted by supplier and buyer.
Start with a system you need to design.
Start with one site, one origin, or one cropping question. We help clarify the context, design for the realities of the place, and test what holds up ecologically, commercially, and operationally.