Life Cycle Assessment study conducted in Vietnam shows drip irrigation lowers environmental impact of coffee cultivation by 60%
TEL AVIV, Israel, May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Orbia Advance Corporation’s S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: ORBIA*) Precision Agriculture business group Netafim, announced today the results of a new Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study showing that coffee grown with drip irrigation demonstrates significant environmental benefits, particularly in reducing Global Warming Potential (GWP). The findings highlight higher yields and significant reductions in water use, energy consumption and overall carbon footprint compared with traditional overhead irrigation. The study, conducted in coffee plantations in Dak Lak province, Vietnam, one of the world’s largest coffee producers, evaluated the environmental performance of drip irrigation in Robusta coffee cultivation.
One of the world’s most traded agricultural commodities, coffee is grown across more than 10 million hectares and supports millions of farmers, most of them smallholders in countries including Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Ethiopia, and across Central America. Yet the sector faces mounting pressure from climate volatility, water scarcity, and rising input costs, making the efficient use of water, energy and agricultural inputs critical to its long-term sustainability. Record Robusta prices are further accelerating this shift, as growers expand into new regions where irrigation is essential to maintain viable yields. At the same time, growing consumer demand for ethically and sustainably sourced coffee is driving farmers to improve cultivation practices, supported by large coffee producers seeking to ensure supply chain resilience, meet responsible business conduct standards and advance their ESG commitments.
This newest study builds on Orbia Netafim’s decades-long experience supporting coffee growers across Latin America, Asia, and Africa. LCA evaluated the environmental impacts of drip irrigation solutions across the full cultivation cycle, including water and energy use, agricultural input use (e.g. fertilizers and crop-protection products), and yield performance. The certified research conducted over a three-year period (2022-2024) compared drip irrigation with overhead sprinkler irrigation method commonly used in Robusta coffee cultivation.
Key findings from the study include:
- Yield Performance: Drip irrigation supported more than 50% higher yield per hectare, allowing farmers to produce more coffee beans with fewer resources.
- Carbon Footprint: Advancing drip irrigation lowered the carbon footprint and GWP of Robusta coffee plantations by nearly 60% driven by reduced energy consumption and more efficient input use.
- Water Consumption: Drip irrigation reduced water use by approximately 56%, less than twice the amount of water per ton of coffee beans produced by overhead irrigated plantations.
- Chemical Use: Drip irrigation resulted in a 46% reduction in chemical use per ton of coffee beans.
These results are driven by Orbia Netafim’s Coffee Protocol, a comprehensive set of agronomically proven best practices for irrigation and fertigation, tailored to specific climate zones, terrains, and coffee varieties. Developed over six decades of global field research, cross-country collaboration and continuous monitoring via advanced digital farming platforms, the Protocol translates precision irrigation into consistent, measurable outcomes for growers.
“Coffee growers today face mounting pressure to increase productivity while managing water scarcity, climate volatility, and rising input costs,” said Ram Lisaey, head of Global Agronomy at Orbia Netafim. “Through decades of collaboration with farmers and leading coffee producers, Orbia Netafim has developed proven solutions that deliver more yield with fewer resources, reducing carbon footprints, cutting water use, and strengthening long-term farm resilience. This Life Cycle Assessment reinforces what we see on the ground every day: precision irrigation is a practical, scalable pathway for coffee growers and companies to achieve supply chain resilience, advance their ESG targets and bring more sustainably grown coffee to market.”
Orbia Netafim has long partnered with coffee companies and the farmers who supply them, from Latin America and Southeast Asia to Africa, sharing agronomic expertise and irrigation protocols that align with quality standards, environmental commitments, and evolving consumer expectations. These partnerships give Orbia Netafim direct insight into market needs, enabling continuous refinement of its solutions in support of sustainable, high-value coffee production.
This LCA is part of Orbia Netafim’s expanding portfolio of crop-specific Life Cycle Assessment research. Previously published studies demonstrated similarly significant environmental benefits of drip irrigation in corn and potato cultivation, reinforcing these findings across crops and geographies. Together, this body of evidence supports the industry’s path toward more resilient and responsible agricultural supply chains. As climate variability continues to challenge coffee-growing regions worldwide, scalable technologies that optimize water, energy and input use are becoming critical.
About Orbia
Orbia Advance Corporation, S.A.B. de C.V. (BMV: ORBIA*) is a company driven by a shared purpose: to advance life around the world. Orbia operates in the Polymer Solutions, Building & Infrastructure (Wavin), Precision Agriculture (Netafim), Connectivity Solutions (Dura-Line) and Fluor & Energy Materials sectors. The five Orbia business groups have a collective focus on ensuring food and water security, expanding information access and connectivity and advancing decarbonization and the energy transition with basic and advanced materials, specialty products and innovative solutions. Orbia has a global team of over 22,000 employees, commercial activities in more than 100 countries and operations in over 50, with a strong U.S. manufacturing presence and headquarters in Boston, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. The company generated $7.6 billion in revenue in 2025. To learn more, visit: orbia.com
About Orbia Precision Agriculture (Netafim)
Orbia’s Precision Agriculture business Netafim is the world’s largest irrigation company and a global leader in precision agriculture solutions that address food, water and land scarcity for a sustainable future. Founded in 1965, Orbia Netafim pioneered the drip revolution, creating a paradigm shift toward precision irrigation. Today, by specializing in end-to-end solutions from the water source to the root zone, Orbia Netafim delivers irrigation and greenhouse projects as well as landscape and mining irrigation solutions supported by engineering, project management and financing services. Orbia Netafim is also leading the way in digital farming, irrigation and fertigation through integrating real-time monitoring, analysis and automated control into one state-of-the-art system. With 33 subsidiaries, 19 manufacturing plants, 2 recycling plants and 4,500 employees worldwide, Orbia Netafim delivers innovative, tailor-made irrigation and fertigation solutions to millions of farmers, allowing smallholders to large-scale agricultural producers and investors in over 100 countries to grow more with less™. To learn more, visit: netafim.com
Media Contact:
Adi Ishay
Global Communications Manager,
Orbia Precision Agriculture (Netafim)
adi.ishay@netafim.orbia.com
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SOURCE Netafim
