There’s a Huge Problem Brewing in the Coffee Industry

There are only a few cultivated varieties of coffee, and the majority of those varieties do not have all three traits necessary to support both farmers and the supply chain: good flavor, high yield, and disease resistance.

Most of the world’s coffee is extremely limited in genetic diversity. Only eight out of 120 species of the Coffea genus are actually cultivated, and most farmers only grow as few as one or two varieties. This lack of genetic diversity makes coffee plants highly susceptible to changes in weather, pests, and disease. Projections show that with every passing year, drought, temperature extremes, and disease will become more prevalent, and destructive farming practices will continue to deteriorate soil. With these deteriorating conditions, the amount of land suitable for coffee cultivation could be cut in half. To make matters worse, experts predict farmers will have to produce twice as much coffee to meet future demand.

Concern over climate change and sustainability is not new in the coffee world. Over the past few decades, farmers have increased their use of natural fertilizers, environmentally-sensitive pesticides, and shade trees; conserved more water; and worked to reduce soil erosion. While these are important practices, genes form the foundation of a coffee plant’s ability to fight off disease or survive a drought.

First recorded in 1861 by an English explorer who spotted it on wild Coffea species in the Lake Victoria region of East Africa, the coffee rust fungus has devastated farms around the world. Now reported in nearly every coffee-growing region in the world, the fungus has the ability to wipe out most of the world’s coffee supply. Since many farmers only grow one or two genetically-identical varieties of coffee, few plants have genes that make them resistant to coffee rust. This means farms can easily be wiped out in one season.

The rust has been making its rounds for more than a century, but the specialty coffee industry doesn’t allow for farmers to grow a more genetically-diverse crop. Often, growers are asked by roasters to cultivate particular varieties with exceptionally good taste to satisfy the demand of coffee aficionados around the world. When these plants grow poorly or are wiped out by disease, the roasters begin sourcing from other farmers, leaving the old farmers with no income and no real path towards recovery. Desperate, these farmers search for new disease-resistant varieties but are extremely limited in their options since so few exhibit both resistance and good flavor. Researchers warn it’s only a matter of time before the new varieties they plant are also infected.

Farmers find themselves in a tough situation. If they focus primarily on flavor, they put themselves at risk for low yields and losing their crop to coffee rust. If they instead decide to plant varieties that are well-adapted to the environment, produce high yields, and resist disease, they might not have a high enough quality crop to attract specialty roasters that will give them a good price.

And so we continue the vicious loop: When disease strikes, we plant a single new resistant variety, but in a short time period, the fungus overcomes that resistance. Researchers and farmers scramble to breed the next resistant variety, and the cycle begins all over again.

Our best defense against coffee rust is not only creating new resistant varieties, but cultivating several varieties at once and using genetic diversity to our advantage. Greater diversity creates less pressure for the disease to overcome resistance, and even if the rust does overtake a particular variety, the farmer will have the others a sort of back up or “insurance.”

The truth is, roasters and consumers ultimately decide what a coffee farmer grows. We are the ones that decide makes a good cup: one with great flavor notes or one infused with respect and compassion for both people and planet. 

A long time advocate for the Maya Vinic community in Mexico, Julio Ortega said, “Coffee gives flavor to life, but you have to have the flavor of life to enjoy the coffee.”