Disease Outbreak Threatens the Future of Good Coffee 259
Wired reports on a disease infecting coffee plants across Central America that could lead to shortages around the world. "Regional production fell by 15 percent last year, putting nearly 400,000 people out of work, and that’s just a taste of what’s to come. The next harvest season begins in October, and according to the International Coffee Organization, crop losses could hit 50 percent." The disease is called coffee rust, and it has been damaging crops to some degree since the 1800s. It's not known yet exactly why coffee rust has become such a problem now, but one of the leading suspects is climate change. "Since the mid-20th century, though, weather patterns in Central America and northern South America have shifted. Average temperatures are warmer across the region, with extremes of both heat and cold becoming more pronounced; so are extreme rainfall events." The fungus that causes coffee rust thrives on warm, humid air, and higher temperatures have allowed it to climb to higher altitudes than ever before. But another likely cause is the way in which coffee is planted and harvested these days: the plants evolved as shade-dwellers, but are now often placed in direct sunlight. They're also clustered closer together, which facilitates the spread of disease. "The integrity of this once-complicated ecosystem has been slowly breaking down, which is what happens when you try to grow coffee like corn."
Re:I don't drink coffee (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, as someone whose family has owned coffee farms for over 100 years let me clue you in.
Traditional coffee plants can last 20 years, they grow tall, shade the ground, and drop the leaves to fertilize the soil, have root systems that keep the soil in place, since coffee is grown in steppes.
However, they are hybribs created in Brazil, that grow faster, less root systems, but need constant fertilization, and the root systems are shallow, causing run off of the soil, lower quality bean, But they produce like hell. But the constant fertilization they need ruins the land.
They are also highly susceptible to root rust.
It is not so much the climate change, but the mass production from genetically manipulated plants.
It Happened to Chocolate 100 Years Ago (Score:5, Informative)
http://worldfamousdesignjunkies.com/food/rare-near-extinct-fine-chocolate-rediscovered-in-peru/ [worldfamou...unkies.com]
"Pure Nacional, with its complex fruit and floral flavors, once dominated the fine chocolate market worldwide. In 1916, diseases struck the Pure Nacional population in Ecuador and within three years 95% of the trees were destroyed. The prized chocolate was thought to be lost, until now."
Re:I don't drink coffee (Score:4, Informative)
They should have listened to Juan Valdez. He's the fucking expert.
gros michel and panama disease redux (Score:4, Informative)
Yup. Monoculture was the first thing I thought of. That's why we can only get bland Cavendish bananas in the US now, which rot before they will sweeten, instead of sweet, delicious Gros Michels. Panama disease killed off the vast majority of Gros Michel bananas and the Cavendish was selected solely for its resistance to that disease. Not for its taste.
Re:It happened to bananas, too (Score:5, Informative)
A couple of notes - it's "Gros Michel", and you're right, by all accounts it was a much tastier banana - more fruity. Cavendish is so unfruity it might as well be a grain. All Cavendish plants worldwide are clones - identical plants. Cavendish, like Navel Oranges, produce no seeds. The impact of this change was huge - Cavendish bananas are extremely sensitive to bruising so an entire new bush-to-ship-to-distributor-to-store system had to be developed, that protected the bananas from any stress. The bananas had to be shipped in clusters. The ships were even different.
But there are 700 other species of banana. There are at least two major research thrusts - genetic engineering (trying to engineer a resistant version), and selective breeding & hybridization (trying to breed a new banana by cross breeding existing plants with desirable characteristics). IMHO it would be at least as effective to just provide a wider range of bananas in the store at a reasonable price - so far all the alternatives have been 2X or 3X the price of Cavendish.
A company I'm looking at is also working on an epigenetic solution - exposing the undifferentiated stem cells to stresses that will hopefully encourage the banana plants to express their genes differently, including genes that provide resistance.
Re:I don't drink coffee (Score:4, Informative)
Re:No.... (Score:5, Informative)
Top Ten Green Coffee Producers - 2009 (millions of metric tons)
Brazil 2.44
Vietnam 1.18
Colombia 0.89
Indonesia 0.70
India 0.29
Ethiopia 0.27
Peru 0.26
Mexico 0.25
Guatemala 0.25
Honduras 0.21
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World Total 7.80
Re:I don't drink coffee (Score:5, Informative)