Coffee is in danger due to climate change...and companies are trying to find solutions

Weather of Arabia - Coffee is considered a difficult crop, especially Arabica coffee, which is the most popular type, and climate change has become a major threat to the coffee industry and trade and to farmers.

According to the Inter-American Economic Development Bank - a financial institution serving Latin America and the Caribbean -; “For coffee crops to grow properly, they need certain levels of heat, light and humidity,” a recent report from the Inter-American Development Bank noted. These conditions are currently largely met in certain parts of Latin America, within a region called the Coffee Belt.

But the bank warned that by 2050, “rising temperatures will reduce the area suitable for growing coffee by up to 50%.” The bank noted that climate change may mean that some countries may absorb coffee in a new way, and for coffee to continue to flourish as it has. Now, things must change

Starbucks is trying to save coffee and confront climate change

Starbucks, which says it buys about 3% of the world's total coffee production, is developing new varieties of Arabica coffee that are specially grown to better withstand climate change as temperatures rise. For more than 10 years, farmers at Starcups have worked to plant and raise different types of coffee trees, trying to find those that will produce more fruits in a relatively short time, and resist other things such as coffee leaf rust, which is a disease that attacks coffee trees and is increasing and exacerbated by climate change.

After comparing the varieties, Starbucks selected six varieties that met the required standards and were consistent with the company's standards for taste and flavour. A catalog cataloging Starbucks' six new varieties is available at the company's Hacienda Alsacia coffee farm, an educational and research center in Costa Rica.

The catalog includes the flavor profile of each plant. One plant offers melon, honey, and sugarcane flavors in coffee, while another boasts a citrus, grassy, and floral flavor. The catalog also explains plant growth characteristics, such as the altitudes the plants will live at, the size and structure of the plant, and how long it will take until first production.

Michelle Burns, executive vice president of global coffee, social impact and sustainability at Starbucks, said: “Some of the varieties we work with and test see their harvest on a two-year cycle time” instead of three or four years. If all goes well, that means more coffee more quickly, a win for Starbucks and its suppliers.

Climate changes affect coffee

Starbucks, which has nearly 36,000 locations around the world, relies heavily on farmers — it buys from about 400,000 farmers in 30 countries. They, along with other coffee farmers around the world, are struggling to adapt to global warming.

Climate change has taken a toll on Susan Schreiner, president of Lions Gate Farms in Hawaii, which is not a supplier to Starbucks.

“The rains have become more intermittent, and when they come, they are more intense, which is harmful to the plants,” she said.

In Hawaii, Schreiner said farmers are working with World Coffee Research, a nonprofit that partners with industry, including Starbucks, to find a solution to coffee leaf rust, which has become a serious problem in the region.

“We are looking for similar breeding innovations, and are carefully monitoring the Starbucks program,” she added.

Arabica coffee is particularly at risk

Coffee isn't the only plant threatened by climate change, of course. Drought, frost or heavy rain can destroy crops of agricultural products from cocoa to grapes. Extreme weather events are unpredictable, making it difficult for farmers to plan effectively for these changes.

But Arabica coffee, the only type Starbucks uses, is particularly at risk.

For Arabica coffee, there is an “urgent need” to develop more climate-resistant varieties, said Miguel Gomez, a professor of food marketing at Cornell’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.

Current Coffea arabica plants are “not resistant to water stress,” according to Miguel Gomez, and “are often susceptible to diseases such as leaf rust that appear when temperatures are unusual.”

The rust-resistant coffee tree may be an attractive option for growers. But this will not solve the many problems posed by climate change, warns Monica Verl, senior adviser to Fair Trade International's coffee programme. “There is no silver bullet to fix climate change for farmers,” she said.

“Nature adapts more quickly than laboratory science,” she said. Varieties can be tested to thrive in certain conditions but fail in others – so the solution may work temporarily but not in the long term.

Ferrell believes that in order to make coffee sustainable, we must move away from the industrial farm model of coffee. “We need to bring coffee back to its roots in the forest,” to promote a healthy ecosystem.

Starbucks pledges to protect and restore forests

In 2021, Starbucks pledged to invest in protecting and restoring forests, and set other climate-related goals. Burns described the company's plant breeding program as a "continuous process," noting that the company will continue to experiment with new varieties to adapt to climate change.

Other coffee varieties such as Robusta and Liberica bear the burden of climate change better than Arabica. But coffee makers typically tend to avoid these varieties because consumers love the taste and aroma of Arabica coffee, according to Gomez of Cornell University. The goal is to develop varieties that taste like Arabica coffee but are more resistant like other varieties.

Securing and protecting coffee from climate change

In its most recent annual report, Starbucks cited “increased cost of premium Arabica coffee beans or decreased availability of premium Arabica coffee beans,” as supply chain risks that could have an “adverse impact on our business and financial results.”

She pointed to a number of factors that could affect coffee prices and supplies. Bad weather, reduced water availability, and crop diseases, among other issues, can make coffee more expensive for Starbucks to purchase, or reduce supplies altogether. “Climate change may exacerbate many of these factors,” the report warned.

Even before Starbucks developed climate-resilient varieties itself, it was offering climate-resilient seeds developed by others (and sometimes modified by Starbucks) to farmers.

It has distributed three million seeds annually for the past five years, according to the company. In addition to seeds, Starbucks distributed about 70 million coffee rust-resistant trees to farmers, as part of its goal of distributing 100 million trees by 2025.

Source: CNN