Coffee, climate change and the importance of shade
During a recent visit to Costa Rica I toured an organic coffee plantation and discovered a lot about the importance of shade which we can apply to our gardens as our climate warms up
I’m on a tour of a coffee plantation in Costa Rica but all is not well. The guide points to a bush that has green fruits and says that the fruits will not be able to be harvested and will drop to the floor. Why? The problem is that the rains have come four weeks early and have triggered flowering and now the fruits are forming, but its way too early. The plantation needs dry weather to harvest the crop, but if the plants flower early, the ripe red fruits will be ready in the rainy season when there are no pickers, so will drop to the floor to be eaten by animals and will be lost. In a good year, this 12 ha plantation harvests 4000 kg of fruits, but last year’s harvest was down 50% and now its happening all over again.
Worldwide, the coffee industry is suffering as climate changing is bringing unpredictable weather, as well as more disease and pests.
Traditionally, coffee is grown on slopes without shade. But the dry season temperatures are c…