Saving Arabica coffee | Hacker News Reader

Saving Arabica coffee

bbc.com

57 pointsjdnier20 comments

I can live with the tasty bananas getting wiped out, but no arabica?

Does anyone know what % of these plantations in Ethiopia use grafted trees? I know grafting is very common in wine (vinifera on labrusca/..) but I haven't learned much about coffee. I did find a source stating it was done in certain parts of Latin America, esp. Guatemala: [1]

  Arabian coffee (Coffea arabica) produces a higher grade of 
  coffee than Canefera coffee (Coffea robusta, the kind used 
  to make instant coffee), but the former is nematode-
  susceptible while the latter is resistant. Scions from 
  seedlings of C. arabica are grafted onto seedling 
  understocks of C. robusta for coffee plantations in 
  Guatemala and other parts of Latin America.

A very short PDF I found discussed more than one study, the most recent being in 2010: [2]

  In India, D’Souza et al (2010) carried out many graft 
  combinations between and within different Arabica and 
  Robusta varieties. They found enhanced photosynthetic rates 
  with Arabica-Arabica scion-rootstock grafts over ungrafted 
  plants. Arabicas grafted onto Robusta rootstocks showed 
  lower net photosynthesis, but also decreased transpiration 
  rates, suggesting that there is a productivity penalty for 
  increased drought protection as found by other authors.

Finally a found a large PDF [3] mentioning the prevalence again in Guatemala at high elevation (>1000m) and nematode presence. The paper then mentions grafting on a low-land (400~1000m) Arabusta hybrid might produce good yields in Africa.

So now I'm back to my question: is grafting prevalent in countries other than Guatemala? At which elevations, and on what root stock? I'd love to know more about this situation.

[1] http://www.hort.cornell.edu/grafting/reasons/ReasonsGBFrm.ht...

[2] http://toolbox.coffeeandclimate.org/userdata/tool/media/graf...

[3] http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/36/2/269.full.pd...

Cocoa is in a similar state - the production in Bahia (Brasil) has been reduced massively with the introduction of the Witches´ Broom, a fungus.

http://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/pest-a-diseases.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9147983...

> but for many, its taste cannot compare to the smooth and complex flavours of Arabica.

The author obviously hasn't had an awesome cup of Filter Kaapi :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_filter_coffee

This seems like a non-sequitur, since the Indian filter coffee you linked to commonly incorporates both Arabica and Robusta beans.

> "The most commonly used coffee beans are arabica and robusta."

Panic over. Apparently Arabica coffee can be grown in artificial environments:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7170479.stm

At the scale needed to meet world demand? Give me a break.

"The total area covered by Arabica and other types of coffee is about 400,000 hectares." [1]

"Almería in southern Spain has developed the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world, covering 26,000 hectares" [2]

So, a small town in southern Spain is within 5%. It would be costly and prices would go up, but its not impossible. At some point we need to start looking at this type of stuff for certain luxury crops (e.g. cocoa beans). Jordan and Norway look like they are doing some stuff using seawater, so I would imagine others are thinking about this kind of stuff.

1) http://equalexchange.coop/history-of-coffee-in-ethiopia I assume their facts are correct for this part even though it is a political site.

2) http://geographyfieldwork.com/AlmeriaClimateChange.htm

Ever seen what we do for oil & gas because of demand?

No break needed. People will pay for it or they won't.

What about poor old liberica? Everybody forgets about it. Good coffee, more robust than arabica. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffea_liberica

It is mentioned in the article. Apparently, most people don't like the flavour.

How does liberica taste in comparison to arabica and robusta? Arabica is much sweeter and less acidic than robusta, which is why this more fragile plant is so popular.

Noooooooooooo!

Reminds me of the alternate universe in Fringe where there is no coffee :(

It's just Ethiopian wild arabica.

Desertification is a fact. It is hard to stop when you live on the edge of a massive fireball, isn't it?

"Just" the wild relative of a very important crop, which is susceptible to disease. The genetic diversity in the wild plants is important for breeding varieties resistantr to rust blight fungus, or any future disease that appears.

Well, there is an alternative. Not necessarily quite as good of an alternative, but it worked for ruby-red grapefruit. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9408350

My point is that it was a misleading title. It should not have blanketed "arabica" when it's only one specific kind of arabica, in a specific region.

Coffea arabica means the plant growing in Ethiopia, that's the definition ("circumscription") of the species.

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