Poor Stewardship of the Amazon Rainforest = Dwindling Coffee Crops

"The ecologically destructive way we grow coffee is going to result in us not having coffee."

"Deforestation for coffee cultivation is killing the rains, which is killing the coffee."

Etelle Higonnet, with nonprofit industry watchdog Coffee Watch 

 

"We had some recovery from the frost, but in the last two years we have had a very irregular climate, with dry periods during the rainy season and more rain than usual during the dry season." 

"This irregular weather affects coffee flowering and the growth of coffee beans, having a negative impact on crop volume."

"It’s not as bad as the frost we had in 2021, but it has resulted in lower than expected production."

Marcelo Vieira, Head, Coffee Department, Brazilian Rural Society agriculture group  

The impact of the extreme weather on the Cerrado region in August 2024. Image: Antonio Sergio

 

 According to the latest report from industry watchdog Coffee Watch published last month, the destruction of forests leads to an interruption of the natural weather cycle of rain, leaving long-term prospects of coffee bean harvests in a severely compromised position. The group mapped Brazil's deforestation in its southeastern coffee belt, linking it to changes in rainfall and resulting crop failures. Local forests, destroyed for the land to be given over to plantations, has seen rainfall in those areas decreased, driving lower yields and ultimately crop failures resulting in higher coffee prices for consumers.

 

Should the situation go on, Etelle Higonnet with Coffee Watch, warns that fewer crops will materialize while more forests are destroyed to answer to producers' calls for expanding farmland for coffee crops. Clearing forests to meet the demand for coffee production, according to the report, will exacerbate normal rainfall patterns creating shrinking yields for farmers, since coffee crops are not drought-resilient.

 

The report relied on Brazilian scientists' findings, and saw publication in September in Nature Communications. Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon Rainforest was found responsible for roughly 75 percent of rainfall decreases in the Amazon catchbasin.  According to the data, deforestation affects rainfall and other related growing conditions. Advanced mapping techniques and analytical tools are now used to identify and quantify these deleterious connections. 

 

Lack of rain in Brazil is causing significant stress to coffee trees. Image: Jonas Ferraresso

 

 A European Union law meant to force Brazil and other coffee-producing countries like Vietnam to provide information whether coffee sold in the bloc had been grown on recently deforested land now validates concerns much to the consternation of Brazil and others. As the world's most productive coffee grower, Brazil's concern is focused on cultivation. Once, Brazil's main southeastern growing regions' conditions saw coffee thrive with reliable rains and fertile soil -- now degraded as a result of deforestation.

 

Yet, despite the report's definitive results, forest felling in Brazil is ongoing. A 2014 drought in Brazil was a turning point, when rain shortage spurred the reality of an annual repeat. Condition-sensitive coffee crops have not responded well since then, with rain falling haphazardly, its timing misaligned with growing requirements. Intense drought in 2024 contributed to wild spikes in global coffee prices, reflecting shortages.

 

Recent strides by Brazilian authorities to reduce the pace of deforestation in some areas will fail to have an impact with more severe pricing crises that may yet result should annual rain cycles collapse. Much of Brazil's coffee belt will become less reliable and the projection by Coffee Watch is that by 2050 prices could begin to soar. 

 

It is not only coffee growing's future that will be impacted by environmental changes led by deforestation. Cattle ranching and  soy farming expansion are also related to forest felling in Brazil. High demand for major commodities drive deforestation worldwide. Yet in a world concerned with climate change and a pending environmental catastrophe, the role of forests in tempering these changes is vital since forests absorb carbon and aid in the regulation of global climate. 

 

 

 

Drought-damaged coffee trees in Brazil in October 2024. Image: Maria Laura Simoni