Double-double trouble . . .

Coffee berry damage

YALE ENVIRONMENT 360 is a site run by the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Really worth the visit, numerous articles of interest. One of 'em, "Spurred by Warming Climate, Beetles Threaten Coffee Crops" is of selfish interest. According to Erica Westley, our double-double access is in real peril. The article talks about arabicas; I wonder if robustus is unaffected?

Coffee production has long been vulnerable to drought or excess rains. But recently, a tiny insect that thrives in warmer temperatures — the coffee berry borer — has been spreading steadily, devastating coffee plants in Africa, Latin America, and around the world.

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“Coffee is migrating,” said Dean Cycon, owner of Dean’s Beans, a Massachusetts-based specialty coffee company that works with farmers around the world. “As it’s getting hotter at the lower altitudes, the lower plants are dying off, so it marches the coffee forest up the slopes.” Jaramillo’s research indicates that the borers are migrating with the coffee plants.