Coffee bark beetle climbing! Climate change! There may be a global shortage of 180 million bags of coffee beans in 2050.

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Many people start the day with a cup of mellow coffee every morning, but with global warming and extreme weather such as droughts and super hurricanes becoming more frequent, more than half of the world's coffee bean production will be severely affected. According to the nonprofit World Coffee Research, coffee beans will be in short supply by 2050, when there will be a shortage of 180 million bags of coffee beans.

Climate change aggravates coffee bean production will decrease

According to a 2016 report by Australia and New Zealand Fair Trade Organization (Fairtrade Australia New Zealand), after unusually high temperatures and high-altitude rainfall, Central America was hit by coffee camel rust (Hemileia vastatrix) in 2012, resulting in $500m in crop damage and nearly 350000 workers lost their jobs; the Central American country of Costa Rica (Costa Rica) suffered from drought and frequent storms, and many farmers gave up growing coffee beans and switched to oranges.

Coffee bark beetle (Hypothenemus hampei) was originally only found in coffee plantations below 1500 meters above sea level, but the extreme climate has changed this situation: due to abnormal hot weather and high-altitude rainfall, coffee bark beetles have also appeared in high-altitude coffee plantations in Indonesia and Tanzania in Asia. The elevation of coffee bark beetles on Mount Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest mountain on the African continent, is also 300m higher than in the last century.

Greg Meenahan, partner director of World Coffee Research, said: "demand for coffee is expected to double by 2050, and if we don't do anything, more than half of the world's areas suitable for growing coffee beans will become unsuitable because of climate change. If we do not research and develop, the demand for coffee beans in 2050 will be 180 million more than our possible output value. "

Coffee bean production will be severely affected by the intensification of global climate change (taken from Pixabay)

"increasingly frequent and severe droughts are associated with disturbing feelings of failure, loss, powerlessness, increased anxiety, stress, depression and rising farmer suicide rates," said Harris Molly Harriss Olson, chief executive of the Fair Trade Organization of Australia and New Zealand.

Try to grow "anti-climate change" coffee trees in response to the warming crisis

In response to the impact of global warming on coffee bean production, World Coffee Research is experimenting with 35 coffee beans in 23 countries around the world to assess their growth performance in different climates. the countries involved in these trials include areas that are not usually the main producers of coffee beans, such as Australia. From 2011 to 2012, Australia produced about 1,000 metric tons of coffee beans and imported about 67,000 metric tons of coffee beans.

Graham King, a professor of botany at Australia's Southern Cross University (Southern Cross University), where scientists are testing 20 "climate change-resistant" coffee beans, said 900coffee trees will be planted in January at the Tropical Fruit Institute (Alstonville Tropical Fruit Research Station) in Alstonville, New South Wales.

Professor King said: "with the deterioration of climate change, many tropical mountain areas may become unsuitable for growing coffee beans. Australia's advantage is that there is no coffee camel rust or coffee bark beetle, nor other major pests and diseases. Compared with most (coffee beans) producing areas in the world, this is very unique. "

He said that not only is Australia free of these diseases and insect pests, but climate change may make it more suitable for growing coffee beans in more parts of Australia because of reduced frost damage in winter. However, David Peasley, an agronomist and consultant to the coffee industry, said rising temperatures could damage coffee plantations in northern Queensland, while climate change could make Australian coffee plantations more vulnerable to diseases and pests, while extreme weather could pose challenges.

Australia has the advantage of growing coffee beans, but it may still be affected by warming.

Zeta Grealy, an Australian who founded a coffee garden in 1994 in New South Wales near Queensland, says climate change has made it harder and harder to grow coffee beans: "We had great conditions, a wonderful microclimate for coffee beans, which used to look like a rainforest, but now the vegetation is very sparse." There used to be 2 meters of rainfall here, but less than 1 meter in 2018. "

A coffee garden in northern Queensland, Australia (from Pixabay)

Greeley said that last year there were many overripe and completely immature coffee beans, which produced poorly: her coffee farm usually produces 1 ton a year, but last year it produced only 19 kilograms. Greeley hopes that the current trial program will succeed in identifying coffee varieties that can cope with less rainfall.

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