Climate Change Affecting Coffee Crops in Colombia

Americas Now

Everyday around the world, two billion people wake up to a cup of coffee. In Caldas, Colombia’s coffee region, it is the way of life. But, due to the climate change, these crops have been highly affected.  

Everyday around the world, two billion people wake up to a cup of coffee. In Caldas, Colombia’s coffee region, it is the way of life. But, due to the climate change, these crops have been highly affected.

Throughout Colombia, there are nearly 600,000 families that grow coffee and Juan Alberto Giraldo is one of them. His family has been in the business for the past 60 years. However, with the climate change affecting the growth of their coffee crops, it has not been easy at all. “It’s a sadness, like I’ve died. Because this is a life, it’s what you know how to do.” Giraldo says he keeps track of the climate on his farm…and his records show an increasingly unpredictable weather pattern.

Colombian coffee farmers have been going through a rough time and the change in weather has left the price of coffee on an unexpected roller coaster. And for the past two decades, farmers are making less than ever. “If the coffee ends, then we’re finished too,” Giraldo says.

Colombia is not the only place where coffee crops have been affected. Brazil’s harvest will also be lower than estimated due to severe droughts ravaging the crop. Diseases are attacking coffee plantations in Central America. And for consumers, this could mean a price increase for their morning cup of joe.

However, some organizations are creating other ways for coffee to be more resilient to climate related problems. The Colombian Coffee Federation believes its signature crop still has a bright future. The federation says it has been working with farmers to mitigate the problems climate change has so far presented. Cenicafe, the National Center for Coffee Research, is setting up hundreds of automatic weather-monitoring stations across the coffee-growing region. This data will be delivered to Colombian farmers to alert them about weather threats to their crops.

Even though there are changes happening to prevent the weather from affecting the crops, Juan Alberto Giraldo still fears for the future. Giraldo said he was hoping to pass the land down onto his children, but has already had to sell some of it last year, and is looking to sell the rest. “This is the last step,” Alberto says. “I don’t know what else to do. I don’t know where else to get the money. We’re in crisis.”

A business that was supposed to last for generations, which Correspondent Toby Muse reports on, may come to an end.