By Vijay Jayaraj
Every day, people across the world wake up to news about climate change affecting their lives. With the seeming randomness of a capricious roulette wheel, the doomsday clique of the climate world daily selects a fresh topic to sow seeds of anxiety among the populace.
Popular things easily recognized — even cherished — by people are continually identified as being at risk of being damaged or destroyed by climate change. Coffee, for example, is a commodity experiencing a surge in popularity, and there are no gifts for guessing what climate doomsayers are saying now.
Yes, coffee is now said to be under threat from man-made climate change. CNN, in a recent article, made the statement, “climate change poses a huge threat to the coffee business and to farmers.” Keeping with its customary approach of presenting climate change as a threat to all manner of things, CNN quotes the Inter-American Development Bank as warning that “rising temperatures will reduce the area suitable for growing coffee by up to 50%.”
Is this claim true? If so, plenty of people would be affected because coffee is selling like hot cakes.
The brew is a staple in nearly 98% of households in Brazil. According to the 2023 National Coffee Data Trends Report, coffee consumption in the U.S. has hit a 20-year peak, with over 50% of consumers gravitating towards specialty coffee.
Even in my home country, India, there is a sudden deluge of boutique coffee shops. Some chains have opened as many as 50 branches within a span of five years, and that is not an easy task in a country of 1.3 billion tea lovers. India is now the eighth largest producer of coffee beans.
More than 99% of global coffee production is comprised of the arabica and robusta species, which are just two of over 140 different species in the Coffea genus. Coffea, especially arabica, depends highly on soil fertility and temperature.
The purveyors of climate apocalypse are particularly interested in the temperature aspect as it provides a legitimate pathway for indulging in climate scaremongering. Despite widespread concern about increasing warmth, satellite temperature data collected from 1979 to 2023 indicates that there has not been a significant rise in temperatures.
Despite widespread concern about increasing warmth, global satellite temperature data collected from 1979 to 2023 indicates that there has only been a modest rise of less than one-degree C in temperature.
Besides, it is widely acknowledged that warming since the Little Ice Age and increased atmospheric CO2 since the Industrial Revolution have boosted agricultural production and the general greening of ecosystems.
Scientists in Brazil have discovered that “carbon dioxide fertilization offsets negative impacts of climate change on arabica coffee yield.” They say that the CO2 fertilization effect will cause a net increase of the average Brazilian arabica coffee harvest by the years 2040-2070.
CO2 enrichment studies in Latin America show that elevated CO2 increased photosynthesis by 40% and increased the efficiency plants’ water use by approximately 60%. Higher CO2 eventually caused a 7-14% increase in plant height and a 12-14% increase in yield. Another study showed that there were significant increases in all leaf area and biomass markers in response to increased CO2.
The research indicates that we might already be reaping the rewards of increased productivity rates in both arabica and robusta coffee varieties thanks to the recent rise in atmospheric CO2. This reality is reflected in the plantations across the globe. Production in South America and Southeast Asia have shown increases in yield during the past two decades.
Brazil and Vietnam are the top two coffee bean producers. Both countries have seen remarkable increases in their yield, with Vietnam’s production climbing from 1.2 metric tonnes per hectare in 2002 to 2.48 tonnes per hectare in 2021. Meanwhile, Brazil’s yield has also shown significant growth, rising from 1.1 tonnes per hectare in 2002 to 1.95 tonnes per hectare in 2020.
Even if the temperatures were to increase dramatically, experts say that coffee cultivation would be possible in cooler regions at latitudes away from equator or at higher altitudes.
So, sit back and drink that morning cup of Joe. Climate is not going to steal your coffee and thank CO2 for keeping the plantations productive.
This commentary was first published at American Thinker on December 7, 2023.
Vijay Jayaraj is a Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Arlington, Virginia. He holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, UK.
CNN is a victim of climate change and a victimized for profit.
If I recall correctly, the major crop failures in coffee growing countries have been due to frost damage, not excessive heat.
Similarly, wine grape damage due to weather has been frost.
Didn’t you get the memo? Warming causes cold! /s
I do remember a class in logic from some forty eight years ago, that a definition of a fallacy was that if X and notX were true, it was fallacious.
Coffee yields have double in Vietnam in just 20 years!
Coffee yields in Brazil have increased 77% over the same time period.
Oh no, Br’er Fox, don’t throw me in that
briar patchglobal warming catastrophe.The CO2-produced greening of the Sahara is as large as France and Germany combined.
“The CO2-produced greening of the Sahara is as large as France and Germany combined.”
I just ran that sentence through my Michael Mann decoder ring.
It responded, “So, insignificant then.”
All those losing sleep over the future of coffee can transfer all their coffee stocks over to me. It will help them sleep better at night and me too.
You won’t be sleeping drinking lots of coffee.
I’ll drink to that.
Is it warming twice as fast in coffee-growing areas as it is in cherries-for-pies growing areas? The world can do with more cherry pies and less coffee. You will sleep better!
“…it is widely acknowledged that warming since the Little Ice Age and increased atmospheric CO2 since the Industrial Revolution have boosted agricultural production and the general greening of ecosystems.“
_____________________________________________________________
Maybe In some circles it’s a widely acknowledged fact. I don’t tune into CNN NPR etc. but I have a hard time believing that “widely acknowledging CO2’s greening of the earth” aptly describes their coverage.
Maybe In some circles it’s a widely acknowledged fact. I don’t tune into CNN NPR etc. but I have a hard time believing that “widely acknowledging CO2’s greening of the earth” aptly describes their coverage.
No, but on their coverage it SHOULD say, “it is widely acknowledged that CO2 doom mongering is greening the pockets of our fellow travelers”.
touché
And it gets even worse!… https://media.gettr.com/group8/gvision/2023/12/08/04/0a712732-e7a6-0222-4e04-06504cb77211/93A3J0f2aHMBevbkhrcaYXRDLJFw.mp4
If this CNN BS were true, coffee production would simply move away from the hottest evahhhhh areas to the Arctic.
Problem solved
The truth poses a huge threat to the climate change business and to the experts earning huge sums from their lies.
Really guys something ought to be done about it.
Liars don’t like the truth. It makes them look bad.
From the article: “Every day, people across the world wake up to news about climate change affecting their lives. With the seeming randomness of a capricious roulette wheel, the doomsday clique of the climate world daily selects a fresh topic to sow seeds of anxiety among the populace.”
That is a perfect description of what is going on!
Yes, they sit around asking themselves, “Which weather event can we attribute to CO2 today?”
From the article: “CNN quotes the Inter-American Development Bank as warning that “rising temperatures will reduce the area suitable for growing coffee by up to 50%.
”Is this claim true?”
That would depend on whether the temperatures continue to rise, and how much higher they go.
Climate alarmists assume the temperatures will continue to rise. That’s pure speculation, based on nothing.
Climate change poses an even bigger and more important threat to N.A. farmers, a threat that will put some out of business. That threat is a ban or restriction of nitrogen fertilizers, and it’s certain to occur while Bush and Trudeau are in power. Screw coffee, we can get along without it.
Bush??????
My guess is he meant “Biden”.
This isn’t new. I remember hearing the same scare 10+ years ago.