What Is Climate Change Resistant Coffee? http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1881/what-is-climate-change-resistant-coffee/ Year after year meteorologists report that average global temperatures have hit another high for the modern era. Considering that what is today the frozen arctic once supported palm trees we have wondered if growing coffee on the arctic tundra will one day be possible. But what would extreme climate change do to coffee production? Last year we asked if climate change could destroy coffee production. Higher temperatures, more chaotic weather patterns, droughts and floods we become the norm as the world climate change, according to experts. The Tech Times writes about the effect of climate change on agriculture. As average global temperatures begin to rise due to human activity, scientists say the drastic effects of climate change continue to take effect all over the world. One of the most severely affected sectors is the field of agriculture. In the past decades, extreme weather conditions caused by climate change have disrupted global food production. The researchers found that global cereal production was as much as 10% lower in the last twenty years. However, there appears to be a “fertilizer” effect of higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. The problem for coffee is that the fertilizer effect would not reduce the risk of leaf rust or help when crops are washed out by floods or die because of drought. Climate change may not destroy coffee production but it may well reduce it. What should coffee producers do? Phy.org reports that Nicaragua focuses on climate change resistant coffee. With climate change threatening crops in many parts of the world, Nicaragua is turning to a robust variety of coffee bean to protect one of its key exports. The appropriately named robusta coffee comes from the Coffea canephora plant, which is being increasingly planted in the Central American country under government authorization.

1. By
www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org

2. Year after year meteorologists report that average
global temperatures have hit another high for the
modern era.

3. Considering that what is today the frozen arctic once
supported palm trees we have wondered if growing
coffee on the arctic tundra will one day be possible.

4. But what would extreme climate change do to coffee
production? Last year we asked if climate change
could destroy coffee production.

5. Higher temperatures, more chaotic weather patterns,
droughts and floods we become the norm as the
world climate change, according to experts. The
Tech Times writes about the effect of climate
change on agriculture.

6. As average global temperatures begin to rise due to
human activity, scientists say the drastic effects of
climate change continue to take effect all over the
world.

7. One of the most severely affected sectors is the field
of agriculture. In the past decades, extreme weather
conditions caused by climate change have disrupted
global food production.

8. The researchers found that global cereal production
was as much as 10% lower in the last twenty years.

9. However, there appears to be a “fertilizer” effect of
higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere.

10. The problem for coffee is that the fertilizer effect
would not reduce the risk of leaf rust or help when
crops are washed out by floods or die because of
drought.

11. Climate change may not destroy coffee production
but it may well reduce it.

12. What should coffee producers do? Phy.org reports
that Nicaragua focuses on climate change resistant
coffee.

13. With climate change threatening crops in many parts
of the world, Nicaragua is turning to a robust variety
of coffee bean to protect one of its key exports.

14. The appropriately named robusta coffee comes from
the Coffea canephora plant, which is being
increasingly planted in the Central American country
under government authorization.

15. The sturdy variety is easier to care for, higher in
caffeine, faster to produce fruit and more disease-
resistant than the more popular Arabica sort
Nicaragua traditionally grows-although it is of lower
quality, fetching a lower price.

16. However, its advantages make it better suited to ride
out climate change and bring benefits to smaller
producers, industry groups say.

17. "Robusta coffee production has proven its
profitability through its high productivity, low
production costs and high potential," says Luis
Chamorro, an executive with the Mercon group,
which plans to plant the variety on 7,000 hectares
(17,300 acres) it owns on the eastern side of the
country.

18. The problem for many producers is that they grow
high quality Arabica coffee and not the more disease
resistant but lower quality Robusta.

19. An alternative approach has been taken by the
Colombian coffee growers association in regard to
one of the threat of climate change which is coffee
leaf rust.

20. They have simply bred high quality Arabica coffee
strains that are leaf rust resistant.

21. When coffee leaf rust swept into Latin America the
Colombian coffee research organization, Cenicafé
started work on producing a Colombian leaf rust
resistant coffee.

22. This was in the 1980s. Today Colombian leaf rust
resistant coffee comes in two varieties, Colombian
and Castillo.

23. The first is a cross between an old Colombian
variety, Caturra, and a rust-resistant strain from
Southeast Asia, the Timor hybrid.

24. Castillo is an offshoot of further cross breeding of the
first Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee strain.

25. Replanting with Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee
in Colombia has reduced the incidence of leaf rust
from 40% to 5% from 2011 to 2013.

26. The bottom line is that traditional coffee producers
are working to adapt to expected climate change
with modifications of what they plant and new strains
of coffee.