Adding to all the challenges threatening the future of coffee production, too numerous to enumerate here, lurks one more: old trees. Coffee trees planted over two decades ago, who are past their most productive years, are said to number in the billions. And in order to keep up with global demand, these trees will need to be replaced. But with what? The changing climate landscape means replanting the same variety may not be viable.
Enter CafeClima. A collaborative effort between World Coffee Research and the Alliance of Bioversity & CIAT, CafeClima is a “a free, science-based data platform designed to help farmers, governments, and funders make smarter coffee renovation decisions by matching real-world variety performance with future climate conditions.”
Four million hectares’ worth of trees—which is the equivalent of the combined producing area of the four largest coffee growing countries—will need to be replaced in order to sustain current production levels. And because by the year 2050 an estimated 50% of current coffeelands will be unsuitable to grow coffee as it currently is produced, this means planting newer, more resilient varieties.
Announced via press release earlier this week, CafeClima is the new open-access tool “translates complex climate and performance data into practical guidance to support efficient, climate-smart renovation decisions across the global coffee sector.” The platform provides both national-level trends as well as tailored suggestions based on user-entered geographic information. A producer can enter the name of their farm, the longitude and latitude, or select their location from an interactive map. From there, CafeClima will provide them with detailed climate information, including future projections and sustainability analysis for coffee cultivation. And they it will give analog trial growing sites with comparable climates.
CafeClima also includes a variety explorer, where producers can see how different different varieties have performed on a global level. This list can then be filtered by things like resistance level to roya, tree height, and even how they are propagated.
Per the press release, the transition to these more resilient species will require an investment of multiple billions of dollars, and CafeClima seeks to maximize the return on that investment.
“The world needs to replace billions of coffee trees. The only thing more costly than inaction is action without insight,” states WCR CEO Dr. Jennifer “Vern” Long. “If the industry invests in planting millions of trees today that cannot survive the climate of 2040, we haven’t just lost capital—we’ve lost a crucial decade for coffee sector adaptation.”
The room for error in coffee production is dwindling and so the need for smart decisions is more important than ever. With CafeClima, farmers have access to personalized data and science-backed projections to make the best possible decisions to not only survive but thrive during what comes next.
Zac Cadwalader is the managing editor at Sprudge Media Network and a staff writer based in Dallas. Read more Zac Cadwalader on Sprudge.
