Coffee rust affecting Central American beans

admin

see this link - Serious issue: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/06/coffee-rust-epidemic/?cid=co8745604

A

PS link to this article [from Wired' mag.] seems a bit slow - feel free to post link to another url.

admin

... footnote - just to give an idea of the possible scale of this... In Ceylon, under Dutch control, there were valuable cinnamon plantations across the island. In the 19th century [when the British took control] they turned to a more profitable crop, coffee Thousands of acres of rainforest were cleared to cultivate coffee on this island - this was known as the coffee rush. But then out of nowhere came a blight - coffee leaf rust, a plant disease, and entire plantations withered and the industry was decimated. It was only after that [in 1867] that tea was introduced and grown on plantations. Obviously that is what Sri Lanka is now known for, and Sri Lanka is now the world

Koffee_Kosmo

Thats a sad state of affaires With anything microscopic it will be hard to eradicate Does anyone know how it is spread ? KK

hiphipharar

It's a fungus disease so would spread via wind-born spores.

mycuppa

The challenge with Roya is treatment methods are quite drastic. As the spores grow on the underside of the leaf, you cannot use traditional overhead spraying, so the only way to deal with it is to cut out the diseased sections else the tree eventually dies. Back in early 2010 there was a similar crisis in Colombia that resulted in the coffee prices almost doubling due to supply/demand ratios. This all happened very quickly between May and December 2010 with the C-index jumping from around 140/150 to a peak in Jan 2011 of 300. Colombian farmers had to rip out and destroy a lot of trees and many have since planted varietals that are more resistant to Roya. Delicate varietals like Bourbons and Maragogype are particularly sensitive to Roya. There can still be a lot of mis-information (a.k.a. exaggeration) about the extent of the problems. Currently, the C-index is trading at near historical lows, which means farmers are getting next to nothing for their crops. I am forecasting coffee prices will rise sharply in the 2nd half of this year. We are expecting a 20 - 30% spike - possibly higher. Unfortunately, pricing still remains in a state of volatility controlled entirely by traders and not farmers or roasters. Traders drive the market up and down to profit from their relative positions. By the way, Roya has been around for a long time - yes.........it's a horrible thing for the coffee industry and particularly the specialty segment.

admin

As we know, Central America

Unknown

The so-called leaf rust, or roya, is a yellow and orange-colored fungus that has swept coffee fields from Mexico to Peru over the past two years, threatening to stunt production and drive up the price of Latin American roasts.

admin

recent article on this: http://cftn.ca/fr/node/1439