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If this is true, I don't think there is any threat to coffee production, just perhaps to the current coffee growing regions. Given that coffee is mostly grown at altitude in the tropics, it stands to reason that areas just beyond the tropics or at a higher altitude may become more favourable
"Identifying new sites where arabica could be grown away from its natural home in the mountains of Ethiopia and South Sudan could be the only way of preventing the demise of the species, researchers said."
Hmmmm.......... there's been more than a few folks around the world doing just that for the last 300 years. Wonder where the heads of these researchers are exactly? 8-)
Nah, just kidding. A similar discussion has been going on in the winegrape growing world for some time as well.
As FC says above it's just a matter of identifying what works where and making the appropriate changes to horticulture.
The heirloom varieties that are the subject of the article have been growing in their natural habitat for a long time.
There is a vast gene pool there and it's hard to draw conclusions from just a small snapshot in time.
Coffee trees have survived there for centuries, putting up with all sorts of weather and climate conditions.
It's more than conceivable that from this gene pool some species will thrive in the predicted climatic conditions, others may fail, some might be able to adapt.
Monoculture agriculture is the most vulnerable to climate change and the region's gene pool may well be its' best defence. Coffee growing areas given over to just one or two varietals may be more at risk. It may also be that site selection will be critical.......... one side of a hill will work just not the whole hill; that sort of thing.
We just need to adapt and be proactive, no good waiting for it all to fall apart and saying " Gee, we shoulda done something........."
Haha yea I saw Thundergod had that idea in another thread too, I wish it were so but I'm not sure about growing at such a low altitude - ~50M here in Sydney.
I'd be keen to hear of anyone growing at less than 250M
Personally I'm preparing for the Mayan Armageddon on the 21st of this month - although it seems unlikely that the world will come to an end I'm popping a few cold filter coffees in the deep freeze to see me through to the end of days just in case ...
Coffee can grow very well in most parts of Australia if the person growing it knows what they are doing.I have sampled great coffee from plants grown at 20 meters above sea level or less.The most interesting was from New Zealand grown by an ex-Kiwi now living in Aus who grows it commercially here.His commitment to proving that good coffee can be grown in these two countries should be reason enough for more locals to support their local producers albeit at a higher price? Maybe we might see a NZ grown v Aus grown competition in the future!!
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