While the world’s most craved caffeinated beverage has become a beloved staple, not many people know how its production has affected the people behind the scenes.
Coffee. Mckaysavage. CC BY 2.0
Today the coffee industry is considered big business, with an annual revenue of around $200 billion. Global demand for coffee is on a steady incline, increasing by 2% each year. Americans’ demand alone has risen 3% in the last four years, and the country’s citizens drink a whopping 400 million cups of it daily. But if demand for this beverage is so high, why are the people who produce and cultivate it in a state of poverty?
Cappuccino. Mckaysavage. CC BY 2.0
The industry has always been in a perpetual state of change, with prices rising and falling depending on demand. But in 2019 another coffee crisis hit when Brazil, the world’s top producer of coffee, flooded the market with large amounts of its product. This dropped global coffee prices to the lowest point in over a decade, far below the minimum that a small farmer needs in order to break even. Gradually, small farms in Latin America are going out of business while big producers from Brazil and Vietnam are becoming suppliers’ go-to sources.
Freshly picked coffee beans. Mckaysavage. CC BY 2.0
Eighty percent of the world’s coffee is produced by 25 million small farms spread across the world. These farmers have dedicated their lives to the pursuit of coffee cultivation, and rely on the income they receive from the annual harvest to survive. Over half of the growers in Central America and Mexico, though, have reported difficulty getting enough food to feed their families.
Coffee plantation. Mikefats. CC BY 2.0
Coffee drying in Colombia. CIAT International Center for Tropical Agriculture. CC BY-SA 2.0
There are about 100 different coffee species on Earth. The few that are cultivated on farms are mostly robusta, commonly known for making instant and espresso coffee, and Arabica, the smoother and more expensive coffee. Colombia, the world’s third-largest coffee producer, demonstrates the difficulties of relying on these two types of coffee plants. With the rise in global temperatures impending coffee’s growth, bacteria and fungi like “coffee rust” have become more common, devastating crops. Infrequent and sporadic rain patterns have become a big worry among growers, as coffee is very specific in terms of how much water it needs.
Coffee beans in Colombia. Mckaysavage. CC BY 2.0
There are many things that Colombian growers can do to help protect their crops, such as planting shade trees to keep plants cool and to stabilize the soil. They can also shift their entire crops uphill to higher elevations that can keep them from overheating. Farmers have also been switching their usual crop with a more resilient plant, a hybrid with some of the unused wild species. The biggest issue with these changes is that it takes money that many farmers do not have. One coffee farmer in Colombia stated that, “Nowadays coffee production is equivalent to losing money.”
Beans. Mckaysavage. CC BY 2.0
For farmers to continue producing coffee, more of the revenue gained from increased consumption must go back into the hands of the people who grow it. More revenue for farmers will allow them to fight back against climate change, letting them continue the generational line of work that has become, in essence, a part of them.
Yuliana Rocio
Yuliana is currently a Literature/Writing major at the University of California San Diego. Yuliana likes to think of herself as a lover of words and a student of the world. She loves to read, swim, and paint in her free time. She spent her youth as part of a travel-loving family and has grown up seeking adventure. She hopes to develop her writing skills, creating work that reflects her voice and her fierce passion for activism.