One Less Cup Of Coffee In A Changing Climate

Opinion: Here’s how climate change is affecting your cup of coffee; Colombia’s coffee region is increasingly vulnerable to climate-change-induced disasters like flooding, drought and invasive pests

Jessica Eise and Natalie White, August 27, 2018 (MarketWatch)

“…[The 300,000 coffee-producers in the fertile mountains of Colombia’s coffee-producing region are] increasingly vulnerable to climate-change-induced disasters like flooding, drought,] unpredictable seasons, crop disease and invasive insects associated with climate change…[Over 90% of farmers surveyed by the MarketWatch research team] reported changes in average temperature. Some 74% said droughts had gotten longer and worse, and 61% reported an increase in mountainside erosion and landslides because of more rain…The farmers also perceived impacts of these environmental changes on their crops. Some 91% reported changes in the flowering and fruiting cycles of the coffee plants, 75% had noticed an increase in pests, and 59% reported an increase in crop disease…

…[M]any farmers cannot rely on traditional seasonal indicators to guide them about the right time to plant, harvest or tend to their coffee crops…Organizing labor to pick the coffee beans has also become a struggle because the trees often do not flower at the same time due to unstable seasonal conditions…From 2008 to 2013, Colombia’s coffee production dropped approximately 33%...The country has worked to increase its production since then…But they’re still short of the national production goals…Other developing countries where the coffee industry is being hit hard by climate change, such as Brazil and Tanzania, have tried some successful adaptation strategies…[Farming in this] new and unpredictable environment requires a detailed understanding of…complicated economic, informational, labor and business problems… Colombian coffee farmers want to succeed, but they’ll need help in all of these areas just to survive.” click here for more

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