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Global Warming Moves Costa Rica Coffee Land Higher
By John McPhaul
Reuters
June 25, 2008
delicate coffee trees into prime coffee-planting territory.
The strictly hard-bean Arabica coffee sought by specialty roasters is only found at high altitudes, so the shift
could mean more opportunities for a country already known for its quality coffee.
"We can now plant at 2,000 meters (6,562 feet). We didn't plant there before," said Daniel Urena, an
agronomist for the Coopedota coffee cooperative, which sells its high-altitude coffee to buyers such as
Starbucks Corp.
Urena said the cooperative's coffee plants traditionally have not survived above 1,800 meters (5,906 feet).
DRY SPELLS, NEW PESTS
But while farmers in Costa Rica's highlands maybe able to develop into new areas, climate change could
bring blight to the crop with unseasonable dry spells, unusual cold snaps and more difficulties growing coffee
at lower elevations.
A recent U.N. study in Uganda found an increase of just two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) would
drastically cut back the land area suitable for coffee.
In the coffee-growing regions that survive, global warming could leave stressed coffee trees susceptible to
new diseases and some coffee pests thriving in the warmer weather.
"Increases in the frequency of dry cycles that reduce the effect of cold on plants could favor the proliferation of
fungus like the leaf rust coffee fungus," said Patricia Ramirez, a scientist working for inter-governmental
Central American Integration System.
The rust infects mainly leaves, but also attacks young fruit and buds, and hit Brazil's coffee crop in 1970.
Strong winds that unexpectedly affected production in Guatemala and a severe drought in Brazil -- the world's
leading coffee producer -- last year are examples of how global climate change can damage crops and
reduce yields, said Jorge Ramirez, head of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute's research center.
He said growers can take measures to mitigate the effects of climate change by planting more shade trees in
coffee fields to protect cherries from stronger-than-usual rains or creating protective windbreaks around farms
with fast-growing trees.
"We have to educate farmers to use (these methods) more," he said.
(Additional reporting and writing by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Christian Wiessner)
By John McPhaul
Reuters
June 25, 2008
- SAN JOSE, Costa Rica
(Reuters) - Costa Rican
coffee farmers are facing
threats from climate
change but the rising
temperatures are also
expanding high-altitude
regions where the country's
most prized beans are
grown.
Human emissions of
greenhouse gases could
cause the earth's surface
temperature to rise
anywhere between one
and six degrees Celsius
(1.8 and 10.8 degrees
Fahrenheit) over the next
100 years, according to the
United Nations, forcing
growers of all crops to
adapt to new weather
conditions.
delicate coffee trees into prime coffee-planting territory.
The strictly hard-bean Arabica coffee sought by specialty roasters is only found at high altitudes, so the shift
could mean more opportunities for a country already known for its quality coffee.
"We can now plant at 2,000 meters (6,562 feet). We didn't plant there before," said Daniel Urena, an
agronomist for the Coopedota coffee cooperative, which sells its high-altitude coffee to buyers such as
Starbucks Corp.
Urena said the cooperative's coffee plants traditionally have not survived above 1,800 meters (5,906 feet).
DRY SPELLS, NEW PESTS
But while farmers in Costa Rica's highlands maybe able to develop into new areas, climate change could
bring blight to the crop with unseasonable dry spells, unusual cold snaps and more difficulties growing coffee
at lower elevations.
A recent U.N. study in Uganda found an increase of just two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) would
drastically cut back the land area suitable for coffee.
In the coffee-growing regions that survive, global warming could leave stressed coffee trees susceptible to
new diseases and some coffee pests thriving in the warmer weather.
"Increases in the frequency of dry cycles that reduce the effect of cold on plants could favor the proliferation of
fungus like the leaf rust coffee fungus," said Patricia Ramirez, a scientist working for inter-governmental
Central American Integration System.
The rust infects mainly leaves, but also attacks young fruit and buds, and hit Brazil's coffee crop in 1970.
Strong winds that unexpectedly affected production in Guatemala and a severe drought in Brazil -- the world's
leading coffee producer -- last year are examples of how global climate change can damage crops and
reduce yields, said Jorge Ramirez, head of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute's research center.
He said growers can take measures to mitigate the effects of climate change by planting more shade trees in
coffee fields to protect cherries from stronger-than-usual rains or creating protective windbreaks around farms
with fast-growing trees.
"We have to educate farmers to use (these methods) more," he said.
(Additional reporting and writing by Mica Rosenberg; Editing by Christian Wiessner)
Moises Araya, 12, picks red ripe coffee beans at a plantation in San Miguel de Naranjo, 37 miles
(60km) of San Jose, December 11, 2007.
REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate
(60km) of San Jose, December 11, 2007.
REUTERS/Juan Carlos Ulate