Effects of climate change boost US coffee production

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Effects of climate change boost US coffee production

Traditional coffee growers such as Colombia, Brazil, and Vietnam have been impacted by extreme heat and changing rainfall patterns.

Farmer David Armstrong recently finished planting what is probably the hardest crop his family has grown since his ancestors began farming in 1865: 20,000 coffee trees. But Armstrong isn’t in the Central American tropics – he’s in Ventura, California, just 97 km from downtown Los Angeles.

“I think I can now say that I am a coffee producer!” he said, after planting the last seedlings of high-quality Arabica coffee varieties traditionally grown in scorching equatorial climates.

Coffee is largely produced in the coffee belt, located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, where countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, and Vietnam have provided the best climate for coffee plantations, which need constant heat to develop.

Climate change is altering temperatures around the globe. This is hurting crops in many places, but opening up possibilities in other regions. The scenario includes California and Florida, where farmers and researchers are studying coffee cultivation.

Armstrong recently joined a group of growers who participated in the largest coffee-growing venture of all time in the United States. The country is the world’s biggest consumer of the beverage but produces just 0.01% of the world’s coffee crop — all production in Hawaii, one of only two US states with a tropical climate, along with South Florida.

Traditional coffee producers such as Colombia, Brazil, and Vietnam have been impacted by extreme heat and changing rainfall patterns. Botanists and researchers are looking to plant hardy crop varieties for some of these nations’ growing regions.

The largest producer, Brazil is experiencing the worst drought in the last 90 years. This was compounded by a series of unexpected frosts, which damaged around 10% of crops, hurting coffee production this year and next.