Coffee review

Hawaiian coffee beans poisoned by leaf rust what does coffee look like? historical story of the development of leaf rust

Published: 2025-08-21 Author: World Gafei
Last Updated: 2025/08/21, According to the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture (HDOA), coffee leaf rust (CLR), which is highly contagious and harmful to crops, has been found in all major islands of Hawaii. The agency informed the public this week that Hemileia Vastatrix, the pathogen that causes rust, was found in coffee samples from the islands of Kauai and Mockai. After laboratory testing, HDOA recognized that

According to the Hawaiian Department of Agriculture (HDOA), coffee leaf rust (CLR), which is highly contagious and harmful to crops, has been found in all major islands of Hawaii.

The agency informed the public this week that Hemileia Vastatrix, the pathogen that causes rust, was found in coffee samples from the islands of Kauai and Mockai. After laboratory testing, HDOA believes that some Kauai coffee factories may have been rusty for at least six months.

A coffee farmer on the island of Kauai informed the agency of the possibility of CLR, while samples from Molokai came from wild coffee plants. The agency believes that factories there may have been affected for at least three months.

The disease spread in Hawaii despite strict quarantine measures for agricultural products, including emergency measures following the discovery of leaf rust in Maui in October last year.

By November, the disease was found on the big island of Hawaii. In January, it was found in plants in Oahu and Lanai, and CLR became a major problem at the annual meeting of the Coffee Association of Hawaii last month.

Since its first discovery, the Hawaiian Council of Agriculture (Board) has approved an interim administrative rule that restricts the movement of "coffee plants, plant parts and other CLR hosts" from the affected islands in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease. These restrictions are currently scheduled to expire on November 21, as CLR,HDOA detects statewide that they are being reassessed.

Coffee leaf rust was first discovered in East Africa and Sri Lanka in the 1860s. Since then, it has spread all over the coffee growing world. Infection can spread rapidly, preventing the growth of plant leaves and berries during the infection and in subsequent years.

Smallholder coffee farmers in parts of South America, Central America and Mexico are still suffering from the devastating leaf rust epidemic that prevailed in 2012.

0