How climate change affects a cup of coffee

If your day starts with a cup of coffee, the coffee you drink in the morning is probably from Colombia.

A new study published in Agricultural Systems by the University of Illinois in the United States shows that the impact of climate change varies greatly depending on where coffee beans are grown.

Other studies on the future production of coffee either consider the country as a whole or concentrate on several regions within a country.

Lead author Federico Ceballos-Sierra said: “The overall productivity of Colombia will not decline.

The researchers analyzed the climate data of 521 coffee-producing cities from 2007 to 2013, and assessed the impact of temperature and precipitation on coffee production, and then simulated the expected weather conditions from 2042 to 2061 and the future coffee production of each city .

At the national level, it is estimated that by 2061, productivity will increase by 7.

"Low-altitude cities will be negatively affected by climate change, and the livelihoods of thousands of growers in these areas are threatened, because by the middle of this century, productivity may be below the break-even point.

The results of the study have important implications for coffee growers and policy makers.

"It will be more beneficial to grow coffee at high places in the future.

However, due to the high cost of relocation, most of the 550,000 smallholder coffee growers in Colombia may not choose to relocate.

The researchers said their findings may also be applicable to other coffee-growing areas, including Hawaii, California and Puerto Rico in the United States.

Related paper information: org/10.