Is Coffee Leaf Rust Due to Climate Change
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Is Coffee Leaf Rust Due to Climate Change? By: www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org
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It is fashionable these days to blame any natural phenomena on global warming. With this in mind we ask a question. Is coffee leaf rust due to climate change? This is a pertinent question as Arabica coffee production has been devastated in several nations in the Western Hemisphere due to coffee leaf rust. There is a strong argument that temperatures are up and there certainly is a high incidence of leaf rust, la rolla in Spanish, devastating coffee crops. Over two thirds of coffee consumed worldwide is Arabica coffee. The other common variety, Robusta, is resistant to leaf rust but generally considered to be an inferior coffee. Let us take a look at the history of coffee leaf rust and efforts to control it such as with Colombian rust resistant coffee. La Rolla Coffee leaf rust is a fungal disease. It wiped out coffee plantations in Asia in the middle of the 19th century. The country of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) was a coffee producer before the leaf rust drove planters to grow tea! The disease spread from the East Indies to South Asia and Africa and eventually arrived in the new world, almost a century later around 1970. Today coffee leaf rust threatens the livelihoods of coffee growers and workers throughout Central America. Due to foresight and hard work a country such as Colombia has produced a couple of leaf rust resistant strains over the last quarter of a century and greatly reduced the incidence of the plant disease in that country. Our original question was this: Is coffee leaf rust due to climate change? If that is the case you need to make the case for climate change in South Asia, the East Indies, and East Africa more than a century ago! Dealing with Coffee Leaf Rust Leaf rust kills organic coffee crops as well as regular coffee. The basic problem with coffee leaf rust is that when there is a big infestation the planter needs to remove all plants, treat the soil, and replant. This takes five years to produce a crop with new plants. In addition, if the planter simply chooses to use effective fungicides he loses his organic coffee certification for three years or more. The cost issues are such that leaf rust not only threatens coffee growers in general but also threatens to drive organic producers out of their niche. Is coffee leaf rust due to climate change? This is not an issue for the small grower. Finding rust resistant strains, treating outbreaks, and making a profit to support the family are the important issues.
Transcript of Is Coffee Leaf Rust Due to Climate Change
Is Coffee Leaf Rust Due to Climate Change?
By: www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org
It is fashionable these days to blame any natural
phenomena on global warming. With this in mind we ask a question. Is coffee
leaf rust due to climate change?
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
This is a pertinent question as Arabica coffee production has
been devastated in several nations in the Western
Hemisphere due to coffee leaf rust.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
There is a strong argument that temperatures are up and
there certainly is a high incidence of leaf rust, la rolla in Spanish, devastating coffee
crops. Over two thirds of coffee consumed worldwide is
Arabica coffee.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
The other common variety, Robusta, is resistant to leaf
rust but generally considered to be an inferior coffee. Let us
take a look at the history of coffee leaf rust and efforts to
control it such as with Colombian rust resistant coffee
.By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
La Rolla
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Coffee leaf rust is a fungal disease. It wiped out coffee plantations in Asia in the middle of the 19th century. The country of Ceylon (Sri
Lanka) was a coffee producer before the leaf rust drove
planters to grow tea!
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
The disease spread from the East Indies to South Asia and Africa and eventually arrived
in the new world, almost a century later around 1970.
Today coffee leaf rust threatens the livelihoods of coffee growers and workers throughout Central America.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Due to foresight and hard work a country such as
Colombia has produced a couple of leaf rust resistant strains over the last quarter
of a century and greatly reduced the incidence of the plant disease in that country.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Our original question was this: Is coffee leaf rust due to climate change? If that is the
case you need to make the case for climate change in
South Asia, the East Indies, and East Africa more than a
century ago!
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Dealing with Coffee Leaf Rust
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Leaf rust kills organic coffee crops as well as regular coffee. The basic problem with coffee leaf
rust is that when there is a big infestation the planter needs to remove all plants, treat the soil, and replant.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
This takes five years to produce a crop with new plants. In addition, if the
planter simply chooses to use effective fungicides he loses
his organic coffee certification
for three years or more.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
The cost issues are such that leaf rust not only threatens
coffee growers in general but also threatens to drive
organic producers out of their niche. Is coffee leaf rust due
to climate change? This is not an issue for the small grower.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Finding rust resistant strains, treating outbreaks, and
making a profit to support the family are the important
issues.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Help Is on the Way
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
In the coffee producing nation of Colombia, the workers at the Cenicafé have found a
cure for la rolla. Cenicafé is a research organization funded
by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation - the
folks who bring you Juan Valdez coffee .
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
In the early 1970’s coffee leaf rust was found in the
Americas. In the early 1980’s Cenicafé started work on
producing a Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
The Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee comes in two
varieties, Colombian and Castillo. The first is a cross between an old Colombian variety, Caturra, and a rust-
resistant strain from Southeast Asia, the Timor
hybrid.By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Castillo is an offshoot of further cross breeding of the
first Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee strain.
Replanting with Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee in Colombia has reduced the incidence of leaf rust from 40% to 5% from 2011 to
2013.By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Is coffee leaf rust due to climate change? Although the fungus does better at warmer
temperatures it has been around for a century and a half. It is always there and
ready to grow and devastate crops with conditions
warrant.By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
Replanting with rust resistant strains throughout the
Americas will probably be the solution to this devastating
disease.
By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/885/is-coffee-leaf-rust-due-to-climate-change/
