Coffee Pests and Diseases

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Climate change is having a rapid and inescapable effect on the global coffee industry. Learn the facts and skills that will be necessary to survive the impact.

Comprehensive Reports 

Arabica Coffee Varieties
World Coffee Research

A global catalog of varieties covering: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, Malawi, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Dominican Republic, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe

https://varieties.worldcoffeeresearch.org/

“Information is power. There are dozens of widely cultivated Arabica coffee varieties around the world, and each is unique in its performance and adaptation to local conditions. This catalog brings urgently needed information to coffee farmers to help them decide which coffee is best for their situation. Agronomic data—expected yield, nutrition requirements, optimal altitude, disease and pest resistance, etc—about the widespread array of existing cultivated Arabica coffee varieties has never been available in an open-access format before.”

 

Key Articles and Research

Wild coffee species threatened by climate change and deforestation

The extinction of wild species could jeopardize the viability of commercial coffee varieties.

16 January 2019
Nature
Emiliano Rodríguez Mega

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00150-9

 

“Most of the world’s wild coffee species have a high chance of going extinct in the next several decades due to more frequent and lengthy droughts, loss of forests and the spread of deadly pests, according to a study(1) published on 16 January in Science Advances.”

“Using criteria from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the team found that 60% of all coffee species are at high risk of extinction.”

“Living collections that attempt to safeguard wild-coffee varieties in the form of seed or plant banks face their own set of threats. The most complete collection of coffee diversity resides in four gene banks comprised of full-grown trees. But these protected locations are underfunded, lack skilled personnel or are threatened by deforestation and pests, according to a 2018 report by the Crop Trust, an organization that works to preserve crop diversity in Bonn, Germany.”

“‘Coffee is the major commodity crop for African countries that produce it, and the local communities and governments have good reasons to conserve it,’ says Tadesse Gole, an ecologist at the Environment, Climate Change and Coffee Forest Forum in Addis Ababa, and co-author of a study(2) published on 16 January that predicted wild populations of arabica coffee could decline by 50% by 2088 due to climate change.”

References:

  1. Davis, A. P et al. Sci. Adv. 5, eaav3473 (2019). Article

  2. Moat, J. et al. Glob. Change Biol. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14341 (2019).

 

“Is the variety really that important, compared to the country of origin, roast level, and processing method? And if it is important, why do only some coffee bags tell you about it?

The simple answer is that coffee varieties can affect the flavour of the coffee. Some, like Bourbon, are known for their sweet taste. Others, like Gesha/Geisha, are known for tea-like qualities.”

“Different beans will have different sizes: Maragogype is famously large, while Mokka is tiny. And since roasting is a physical transformation, how heat is transferred throughout the bean is of key importance. You need to understand the physical makeup of your coffee (especially if you’re blending).”

“Another reason to care about varieties is that Arabica coffee has a worryingly low genetic diversity. This means it is more susceptible to disease and climate change – and could even theoretically become extinct in the future. Creating and/or finding more genetic variety is of key importance right now.”

“Gesha/Geisha originated in the village of Gesha, Ethiopia, but remained under the radar until 2003 in Panama. Since then, Panamanian Geisha has become one of the industry’s most-famous coffees. With most coffee championship finalists using it, and a recent green bean auction price of US $601/lb, it’s become a byword for excellence – and exclusivity.”

“F1 hybrids are a new generation of coffee varieties that have the potential to be high-quality, rust-resistant, and high-yielding. They are typically mass-produced in advanced nurseries. Notable F1 hybrids include Centroamericano, which has seen recent success in the Nicaraguan Cup of Excellence.”