Threat Of Coffee Essay

The world drinks 1.6 billion cups of coffee each day (Fiegl 2012). People pick it up on their way to work and class. It has helped college students survive many all-nighters. It provides an avenue for old friends to catch up, as well as for new relationships to form. Coffee is worth over $100 billion worldwide, which means it is even more valuable than commodities such as gold, oil, corn, and sugar. Coffee is grown in over 50 countries worldwide, and the America 's make up 67% of all coffee grown around the world (Goldschein 2011). One of these vigorous coffee growing countries is Colombia, particularly in the Department of Cauca where smaller scale coffee farms are abundant. However, growing coffee is not an easy task. It requires land, capital, labor, and patience. There are a multitude of constraints to coffee production in Cauca, Colombia, but one stands out in particular: Hemileia vastarix, or coffee rust. Once coffee rust hits, it can completely decimate entire coffee farms and ruin coffee production not only during the current year, but in the next growing season as well. We all value our quick, cheap cup of coffee on the run. What would happen if coffee production stalled, and prices rose? Very few of us are wiling to pay the real price of our food and …show more content…
One of the most harmful of these threats is the disease coffee rust. Two pathogens exist but only one of them is present in all coffee growing regions around the world: Hemileia vastarix. Contrary to popular belief, coffee rust can attack both Coffea arabica (Arabica coffee) and Coffea canephora (Robusta coffee). Outside of the genus Coffea, no alternative hosts for coffee rust have been found. These two coffee varieties are the most important and profitable varieties of coffee on the market. In the mountainous regions of the Valley of Cauca, Arabica coffee is an extremely important