Due to a coffee fungus sweeping through the world”s coffee regions, we might have to go without our usual cup of Joe or pay much higher prices.
Coffee production is a $15 billion industry worldwide employing more than 26 million people in 70 countries. Coffee drinkers slurp down nearly 18 billion pounds of coffee annually ? enough for about 1 billion espresso shots every day.
Coffee was first discovered in what is now Ethiopia in the 13th century though it was probably known and used by nomads of the region for thousands of years before. It spread through the Arab world in the 1500s and crossed over to Europe a little more than one hundred years later. The first coffeehouse opened in London in 1650. Commerce received a jolt when people switched from alcohol (a depressant) to caffeine (a stimulant). Coffee houses became enlightened meeting places where, as the Economist magazine noted, “[F]or the price of a cup of coffee, you could read the latest pamphlets, catch up on news and gossip, attend scientific lectures, strike business deals, or chat with like-minded people about literature or politics.” Tom Standage writes that not everyone approved of this new drink; because, “Christians had abandoned their traditional beer in favor of a foreign drink?”
The culprit behind the coming pandemic is coffee rust caused by a fungus (Hemileia vastatrix) that attacks coffee plants (Coffea spp.), withering the leaves.
The less popular robusta coffee plant (C. canephora) resists the fungus better than the more popular arabica coffee plant (C. arabica). Arabica coffee accounts for about 70 percent of the global market because many prefer its taste.
The rust was first discovered near Lake Victoria in eastern Africa in 1861. Ever wonder why the British are tea drinkers? Blame the coffee rust. It was found in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) in 1869 and caused the Britains to change their beverage as the Ceylonese shifted crops from coffee to tea. The rust spread to Brazil in 1970 and has been moving through the coffee producing countries of the western hemisphere ever since. Two things have increased the rust”s reach: global warming and growing coffee plants in full sunlight.
The warming climate has moved the reach of the rust higher up into the mountains where it had been too cool before. Farmers have also been bringing the historically shade-grown plants into open sun to increase the bean production but increasing sunlight also benefits the rust”s production ? by a factor of up to 10 ? according to some research.
Forecasters project next year”s crop to be 50 percent less. The typical control methods of windbreaks, fungicides, and removing diseased and the surrounding plants have not been effective enough. According to the International Coffee Organization, “On average, more than 50 percent of the total [prime] coffee growing area in Central America has been affected by the pest.”
Only Colombia”s farmers have rid that country of the fungus by planting hybridized coffee plants, “Colombia” and “castilla” varieties, which are crosses between arabica and robusta varieties.
Whether coffee drinkers will accept these new varieties remains to be seen. Conventional breeding of crossing and back-crossing varieties introduces thousands to hundreds of thousands of new genetic combinations, which could affect its taste.
To guarantee no change in taste of a heritage varietal would require transgenic breeding where 1 to 3 of the nine genes within the robusta variety identified as rust resistant would be inserted into an arabica”s gene sequence, hugely lowering the chance of a taste change.
Transgenic breeding may not even be tried. For one thing, it is quite expensive. One expert says the research and regulatory hurdles add up to approximately $30 to $60 million for a far?from-certain reward, given that many growers use organic methods and are opposed to rDNA crops.
I just want my Arabica beans. I have tried tea, yerba matte, and robusta; give me Arabica or give me zzzzzzz.
Norm Benson is a registered professional forester and worked three decades for Cal Fire before embarking on a writing career. He is currently working on a biography of Walter C. Lowdermilk and can be found writing online at http://normbenson.com/timberati/.
