http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1194/organic-coffee-threatened/
Organic Coffee Threatened
We have written previously about the dilemma that organic coffee growers face when coffee leaf rust Infects their crops. Now Bloomberg has taken notice. In an article entitled Organic Coffee Threatened by Global Warming-Stoked Fungus the news organization discusses how growers are faced with spraying and losing their organic status or not spraying and losing their coffee plants.
Teodomiro Melendres Ojeda, an organic coffee grower in Cajamarca, Peru, stands at a crossroads. Neither path is attractive.
Leaf-rust fungus, known as roya in Spanish, has devastated about a third of his crop. Melendres, 48, can use chemicals to kill it, though he risks forfeiting his organic certification and the 10 percent price premium it brings. Or he can preserve the certification and watch his plants die.
What are the possible remedies for organic coffee growers to this spreading coffee plague?
Colombia Beats La Roya
Leaf rust, called la roya in Spanish, requires night time temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit to thrive. This usually kept the disease below about 3000 foot elevation. It also likes more rain. When el Nino hit Colombia in 2008 it provided the rain and higher mountain temperatures allowed the fungus to thrive at altitudes up to 6,000 feet. Colombia lost forty percent of its Arabica coffee crop that year. The Colombian Coffee Growers Association started cross breeding studies in the early 1980s and has two strains of Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee, 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. 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. However, to accomplish this, the Colombians needed to uproot forty percent of their coffee crop and replant. This is what organic growers are facing all across Latin America.
What Is an Organic Coffee Farmer to Do?
With organic coffee threatened by la roya many organic farmers simply spray and forget about their certification. But, if the infestation is severe coffee plants are lost anyway. An article in the online LaPrensa in Honduras, Los efectos roya del café en Honduras impactan en alimentación de familias pobres, notes that not only are coffee growers losing money and the economy of Honduras being affected but poor coffee workers are starving.
“Los ingresos de las familias muy pobres y pobres -afectadas por la roya del café- cayeron al nivel de la línea de supervivencia”, subraya un estudio de Oxfam al que tuvo acceso Efe, que además recomienda acciones oficiales inmediatas para auxiliar a los pobladores de las zonas azotadas.
2. We have written previously about
the dilemma that organic coffee
growers face when coffee leaf rust
Infects their crops.
Now Bloomberg has taken notice.
3. In an article entitled Organic
Coffee Threatened by Global
Warming-Stoked Fungus the news
organization discusses how growers
are faced with spraying and losing
their organic status or not spraying
and losing their coffee plants.
4. Teodomiro Melendres Ojeda, an
organic coffee grower in Cajamarca,
Peru, stands at a crossroads.
Neither path is attractive.
10. Leaf rust, called la roya in Spanish,
requires night time temperatures
above 50 degrees Fahrenheit to
thrive.
11. This usually kept the disease below
about 3000 foot elevation. It also
likes more rain.
12. When el Nino hit Colombia in 2008
it provided the rain and higher
mountain temperatures allowed the
fungus to thrive at altitudes up to
6,000 feet.
14. The Colombian Coffee Growers
Association started cross breeding
studies in the early 1980s and has
two strains of Colombian leaf rust
resistant coffee, Colombian and
Castillo.
15. The first is a cross between an old
Colombian variety, Caturra, and a
rust-resistant strain from Southeast
Asia, the Timor hybrid.
16. Castillo is an offshoot of further
cross breeding of the first
Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee
strain.
17. Replanting with Colombian leaf rust
resistant coffee in Colombia has
reduced the incidence of leaf rust
from 40% to 5% from 2011 to 2013.
18. However, to accomplish this, the
Colombians needed to uproot forty
percent of their coffee crop and
replant.
19. This is what organic growers are
facing all across Latin America.
21. With organic coffee threatened by la
roya many organic farmers simply
spray and forget about their
certification.
22. But, if the infestation is severe
coffee plants are lost anyway. An
article in the online LaPrensa in
Honduras,
23. Los efectos roya del café en
Honduras impactan en alimentación
de familias pobres, notes that not
only are coffee growers losing
money and the economy of
Honduras being affected but poor
coffee workers are starving.
24. “Los ingresos de las familias muy
pobres y pobres -afectadas por la
roya del café- cayeron al nivel de la
línea de supervivencia”
25. subraya un estudio de Oxfam al
que tuvo acceso Efe, que además
recomienda acciones oficiales
inmediatas para auxiliar a los
pobladores de las zonas azotadas.
26. In English:
Family incomes of workers
affected by leaf rust have fallen
below the level necessary to
survive according to Oxfam
27. The plain fact of the matter is that
many organic growers are small
family operations that hire local help
in managing, picking and
processing their crop.
28. The forty percent or more crop
losses in countries like Honduras
have caused significant hardship.
29. An interesting article in the online
Times-Picayune notes that the
effects of la roya are pushing
people to the US border.
30. Meet the world’s most important
coffee disease that you’ve never
heard of – rust fungus, a.k.a. “la
roya.”
31. Its spores, which can devastate
entire coffee farms, forced Sri
Lanka to uproot all its coffee trees in
the 1860s and start growing tea.
32. Today, climate conditions have
accelerated the fungus’ growth in
Central America, uprooting farmers
and fueling a wave of immigration to
the U.S.
