Coffee, one of the world’s favorite drinks and of which 2.25 billion cups are consumed a day, also suffers the ravages of climate change, since rising temperatures reduce the land suitable for its cultivation and affect its growth, which translates into alterations in the flavor, aroma and complexity of the drink.
A study by World Coffee Research, an organization formed by the global coffee industry, indicates that as the world warms, coffee farmers need to plant at higher altitudes, as the bean requires a tropical climate with cool nights and humid conditions. adequate, which are being lost in the tropics, the region where grain is traditionally produced.
For this reason, producers are abandoning the cultivation of the Arabica variety, which generates a more aromatic and smooth drink on the palate, has less caffeine, but with a more delicate production, in favor of the Robusta variety, which is more resistant to climate, pests and adverse conditions. although it generates a drink with a very bitter and earthy flavor.
Producers are abandoning the cultivation of the Arabica variety, which generates a more aromatic and soft drink on the palate, for the Robusta variety, which is more resistant to the climate, but generates a drink with a bitter and earthy flavor.
“Robusta is not a silver bullet for climate change,” Jennifer Vern Long, director of World Coffee Research, told Bloomberg last October.
In Mexico, which is the ninth largest producer of coffee in the world, with more than 260 thousand tons cultivated per year, producers suffer from climate change because it altered the planting season, which means that lower quality coffee is being produced and therefore Therefore they are leaving aside the Arabica variety and planting more robust ones.
In Veracruz, Horacio Xicoténcatl, who is a marketer and producer of the grain, warned that entire communities have stopped growing coffee due to climate change, such as Sábana Larga, a community located half an hour from Córdoba, where the last harvest was more than six years ago. .
“Before, coffee was produced at 1,200 meters above sea level, then at 1,600 meters, but they were already very small almonds; today we are seeing that there are coffees at 2,500 meters above sea level. It means that Global warming has caused coffee to begin to be grown in increasingly higher areas, precisely because warming is destroying the crop,” he said.
In the state, the British government, through its embassy, has been implementing a program since last year to rescue coffee production, since a study estimates that if temperatures continue to increase, 58 percent of coffee production will be lost for the year 2040.
Veracruz is the second national coffee producer, below Chiapas, and focuses on planting the Arabica variety in most of its regions, which total around 150 thousand hectares.
The president of the National Coffee Movement, Alejandro Petrona Sanfilippo, pointed out that production for the 2023-2024 cycle will be lower, since the harvest was brought forward two months.
“I understand that there is still no estimate of how much production could be in each region, the cycle has not yet concluded, until March, but there is not much coffee on the farms anymore… The issue of climate is very important because the weather is affecting us. changes that exist, then the contamination of the aquifers is also affecting us,” he said.
In Chiapas, which is the first national producer of coffee, farmers have also had to relocate geographically to higher regions, indicated the director of the San Francisco de Asís Agroecological Center (Casfa), Iván Román Noriero.
He pointed out that the increase in temperature, which in the Soconusco region—southern Chiapas—was between one and two degrees Celsius in recent years, favors the presence of pests that affect coffee.
“Climate change and global warming facilitate the appearance of various pests or those that already exist become stronger, as is the case of rust, which since its incidence in this region has developed more and has become more resistant,” he said. .
In the state, some of the producers abandon the planting of Arabica for robusta, as it is easier to grow and they have benefited from contracts with transnational companies, since this variety is the one used to make soluble coffee.
In the world the situation is not better
Several coffee-producing areas in the world also face their own challenges, while many consumers are now thinking about the possibility of looking for sustainable coffee, so as not to be part of the problem.
According to Spencer M. Ross, associate professor of marketing at UMass Lowell, that can be a difficult decision for consumers, who are faced with many options and little reliable information.
“As a coffee enthusiast and marketing professor who researches market justice, I have long been fascinated by how ethics and coffee consumption are intertwined. Before the pandemic, my family adopted a cat and named him Yukro, after a coffee-growing community in Ethiopia. While we were quarantined at home, I ordered Yukro-origin coffee from as many roasters as I could find to try to understand how consumers were supposed to make an informed decision.”
“Paradoxically, the more information I collected, the less I knew how to make a responsible decision. In fact, previous research has indicated that information overload increases the paradox of choice; This is no different when ethical information is taken into account. Additionally, as with a lot of consumer-facing information, it can be difficult to know what information is relevant or credible,” he adds.
According to Spencer M.Ross, marketers try to simplify this overload by using buzzwords that sound good but may not convey much nuance. However, some of these terms can be considered when trying to decide between “one hundred percent Colombian” and the Vieira family.
Fair Trade
As a reference point, the coffee industry often uses the “C price”: the price traded on the New York Intercontinental Exchange for a pound of coffee ready for export. “Fair trade” implies that coffee is traded fairly, often with the goal of paying farmers minimum prices – and fixed premiums – above the C price.
There are a few different fair trade certifications, such as Fairtrade America or Fair Trade Certified. Each of them has its own voluntary certification standards linked to the partner organization. However, obtaining certification can entail a significant additional cost for farms or importers.
* With information from Roberto Téllez and Adriana Luna, from El Sol de Córdoba, Marvin Bautista, from Diario del Sur and The Conversation.
2024-01-24 08:08:40
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