aroma

Climate-smart coffee

August 30, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Do you crave that morning cup of coffee? You’re not alone, and not by a long shot. In fact, more than 2.2 billion cups of coffee are consumed globally every day.

The existing coffee market is dominated by two species: Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (the latter commonly called robusta). Historically, coffee drinkers have preferred Arabica beans for their specific flavor and aroma.

But climate change is threatening many crops around the world, and maybe none more so than coffee. In fact, an alarming 50% of suitable coffee-growing land is projected to be lost by 2050. As a result, scientists see two alternatives to supplement Arabica: either adapt coffee farming practices to new environments, or focus on coffee species that are more resilient.

According to a new study led by researchers from the University of Florida, Robusta coffee might be a good candidate to augment Arabica. The researchers evaluated Robusta and Arabica for multiple traits in three high-altitude locations in Brazil over five years.

The study, which was recently published in the journal Crop Science, found that Robusta is highly adaptable and grows in high-altitude regions, which means it combines good production and flavor scores. According to the researchers, Robusta can combine the following three elements for coffee cultivars: Sustainability (produce more with fewer inputs), quality (good flavor to meet consumer demand), and plasticity (capacity to adapt to new production systems).

Following these favorable findings with Robusta in Brazil, the scientists will test whether the species can grow in Florida.

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Robust and smart: Inference on phenotypic plasticity of Coffea canephora reveals adaptation to alternative environments

UF scientists study how to bring you ‘climate-smart coffee’

Photo, posted May 23, 2013, courtesy of McKay Savage via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Perennial Rice | Earth Wise

December 9, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

People have been cultivating rice for more than 9,000 years. Cultivated rice is an annual crop which is often extended to two crops a year by a process called ratooning, which is cutting back annual rice to obtain a second, weaker harvest.

An extensive project involving multiple institutions in China, the U.S., and Australia has been developing perennial rice. The researchers developed it through hybridization, crossing a type of Asian domesticated annual rice with a wild perennial rice from Africa. Using modern genetic tools to identify candidate plants, the team identified a promising hybrid in 2007, planted large-scale field experiments in 2016, and released the first commercial perennial rice variety, called PR23, in 2018.

The researchers spent five years studying the performance of the perennial rice alongside annual rice on farms in China’s Yunnan Province. For the most part, the yield of the perennial rice was equivalent to that of annual rice over a period of four years.

Because farmers don’t have to plant rice each season, growing perennial rice requires almost 60% less labor and saves nearly half the costs of seed, fertilizer, and other inputs.

Perennial rice is already changing the lives of more than 55,000 smallholder farmers in southern China and Uganda. The economic benefits vary by location, but overall profit increases ranged from 17% to 161% over annual rice.

There are already three perennial rice varieties available to farmers, but researchers aren’t done refining the crop. They plan to use their methodology to enhance traits such as aroma, disease resistance, and drought tolerance to newer versions.

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Farmers in China, Uganda move to high-yielding, cost-saving perennial rice

Photo, posted February 25, 2002, courtesy of Matthieu Lelievre via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Coffee And Climate Change | Earth Wise

December 20, 2021 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Over 2.25 billion cups of coffee are consumed in the world each day. Americans spend $80 billion dollars a year on coffee. Coffee in grown across 12.5 million largely smallholder farms in more than 50 countries. In other words, coffee is a big deal.

Like many things, coffee is subject to the effects of climate change. Many coffee-producing regions are experiencing changing climate conditions, which don’t only affect the yield and sustainability of the crop but have an impact on taste, aroma, and even dietary quality. Coffee drinkers care very much about these things.

New research at Tufts University and Montana State University looked at how coffee quality can be affected by shifts in environmental factors associated with climate change. The researchers looked at the effects of 10 prevalent environmental factors and management conditions associated with climate change and climate adaptation.

The most consistent trends were that farms at higher altitudes were associated with better coffee flavor and aroma, while too much light exposure was associated with a decrease in coffee quality. They also found that coffee quality is also susceptible to changes due to water stress and increases in temperature and carbon dioxide levels.

They evaluated current efforts to mitigate these effects, including shade management, selection of climate resistant coffee plants and pest management. The hope is that if we can understand the science of the changes to the environment, it will help farmers and other stakeholders to better manage coffee production in the face of increasing challenges. It will take a concerted effort to maintain coffee quality as the climate continues to change.

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Web Links

Coffee and the Effects of Climate Change

Photo, posted May 22, 2009, courtesy of Olle Svensson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.