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Global Climate Change Affects the Tropical Crops We Love |
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Although much has been written about the devastating effects of global climate change
on the North and South poles, the tropical band that runs around the center of the Earth is
also experiencing significant changes that are negatively affecting the tropical foods and
flavors we use daily and love so much.
NASA reported in December of 2010 that the January – November 2010 period was the
warmest globally in the 131-year record. The U.N. science network foresees
temperatures rising up to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. A rise that great could spell
the end of some of the world's most important crops. So what is happening currently?
Tea
Growers in Assam state, India's main tea-growing region, have announced that the rising
temperatures in their region have not only brought a drop in tea production, but also
subtle, unwelcome changes in the flavor of their teas.
Assam state, in Northeastern India, produces some of the finest black and British-style
teas in the world. The teas are known for their heartiness, strength and body, and are
frequently promoted as "breakfast" teas.
Rajib Barooah, a tea planter in Jorhat, Assam's main tea growing region has said that the
potent taste of Assam tea has weakened. "We are indeed concerned," he said. "Assam
teas's strong flavor is its hallmark."
The growers have reason for concern. Assam produces 55 percent of the tea crop in
India, a nation that accounts for 31 percent of the global tea production. However, not
only quality and flavor have been affected; so has the production. Tea growers hope that
the government will fund studies to examine the flavor fallout from climate change,
especially as temperatures rise and rainfall patterns change.
In the last eight decades temperatures have risen 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Additionally,
there have been more gray days during the monsoon seasons, creating damp conditions
that can aggravate attacks on the tea crops by the tea mosquito. Restrictions on pesticide
use because of environmental concerns make it difficult to control pests.
The Indian tea industry employs about 3 million people. The majority of these people
live at, or only slightly above, the poverty line. If tea production drops significantly,
these people will be unemployed.
Arabica Coffee
Central American coffee growers have struggled mightily in the last 15 years. Regions in
Southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and parts of Costa Rica, Honduras and
Nicaragua have grown beautiful Arabica coffee, considered by coffee aficionados as far
finer than the less expensive and more common Robusta coffee. Competition from an
over-supply of robusta coffee on the market undercut thousands of small growers of
Arabica coffee in Central America, leading to a mass migration to cities or the United
States to find work to support their families. However, in order to keep coffee trees
viable, the cherries must be picked whether or not they are sold, so most of the wives
stayed behind to care for the coffee bushes while their husbands worked in the well-
tended gardens of suburban Americans or as day laborers.
Recently this has changed some as poor crops due to rain in Brazil has pushed up the
price for coffee and created greater demand for Arabica coffee. At the end of 2010, the
market price on the New York Exchange for Arabica was $1.55 a pound. Unfortunately,
the good news will only offset the bad for a while. The culprit? Climate change.
Arabica coffee grows best at tropical altitudes of 1800 - 3600 feet and thrives in the
nutrient-rich volcanic soils on the sides of mountains and volcanoes. However, as the
temperatures increase, it will be necessary to grow the coffee and increasingly high
altitudes. Given the shape of mountains, the higher the altitude, the smaller the available
growing area.
Loss of growing area isn't the only problem. Pest control is an issue as the weather
warms. Additionally, as our world fertility rate drops and the population ages, fewer
people will be available to harvest and process the coffee cherries. Coffee is labor-
intensive. Most farmers grow coffee on a few acres of land that typically is on
mountainsides with uneven terrain. Compost and fertilizers must be carried in on the
backs of mules or the farmers. Central American farmers usually don't use chemicals as
they are too costly but they also can't afford to get organic and fair trade certification for
their coffee.
At this point, the majority of Arabica coffee growers would prefer to grow other crops,
ones that aren't as heavily impacted by climate shift nor as labor-intensive. While the
shift away from coffee and the embracing of other cash crops will probably be slow,
unless things change significantly, it will most likely be inevitable. In the meantime,
current prices will help make their daily lives a bit easier.
Vanilla
Vanilla farmers are impacted by several major difficulties not faced by the growers of
coffee and cacao (chocolate). The most challenging is the availability of cheap imitation
vanilla. There is no viable synthetic option for either coffee or cacao. Very few people
will substitute chicory or carob for the real deal if they can get it!
At one time vanilla was traded on the international commodity market and the price for
pure vanilla was enough to make it a valuable crop for the processors, and a less valuable
but nevertheless profitable crop for the growers, but after imitation vanillin became
readily available in the 1930s, pure vanilla lost both market value and status.
Although Mexico is where vanilla originated and was domesticated, the loss of the rain
forest in the last 100 years has made it extremely difficult to grow. In 1900 95 percent of
the rain forest was still intact. By the 1960s only five percent remained. The balance
was cleared by the petroleum industry in order to lay pipelines from the oil rich coast to
Mexico City and other regions.
The loss of rain forest has meant greater heat and less humidity. Vanilla must grow in a
protected environment; rain forest is ideal. Many farmers now use shade cloth growing
but this is expensive and heavy storms or hurricanes ruin both the protection and the
crops. Mexico is now seeing greater extremes in the climate – more cold, heat, rainfall
and drought. Their 2010/2011 crop is minimal. And Mexico is not the only vanilla-
growing region struggling with climate change; the weather has become more capricious
in all the vanilla growing regions.
Cacao
Like our beloved coffee and vanilla, chocolate also faced an uncertain future. Like
vanilla and Arabica coffee, cacao does not grow well on large plantations. The majority
of the world's cacao is grown on small farms in West Africa, which is facing a rise in
temperature and greater fluctuations in rainfall. Political unrest also plagues most of
Africa; as I write this, the Ivory Coast is embroiled in a presidential deadlock; the
president voted out refuses to leave and had the winner under arrest in a hotel. Not a
good business climate, indeed. In Brazil, much of the cacao crop was attacked by a
fungus called Witches Broom a few years ago. They are also facing diminishing rain
forest in which to grow cacao.
But with cacao there is hope as it is too beloved and has too many business implications
as well. Mars, a family-owned business, identified the genome responsible for growing
cacao and is working diligently to create a cacao hybrid that will be able to withstand the
changing climate. Not to be undone, Hershey's is also hard at work and claims also to
have identified the genome for cacao. These two companies are extremely competitive,
and for good reason; they are giants in the chocolate bar industry and they use the same
sources for their cacao. One interesting difference exists; Mars has chosen not to patent
their discovery. Rather, they wish for it to remain in the public domain as a nod to the
support of the small farmers who grow the crop that has made them so wealthy.
There is additional reason for companies to work so hard to keep cacao alive and well.
While cacao is too labor-intensive, and land too valuable, to grow substantial amounts in
Hawaii or South Florida, the US produces milk, peanuts and almonds, which are used in
volume in chocolate bars.
Finally, Brazil is encouraging greater use of the rainforest in their Northeast for growing
cacao. This could make a significant difference in protecting the 15% of rainforest still
left. Like vanilla, cacao is a sustainable crop that depends on the protection of a forest
canopy to produce quality crops. Indeed, in a sweet show of symbiosis, some growers
use their cacao trees as a tutor for their vanilla vines.
These are just a few of the tropical crops that matter, not only to the growers but to us all,
just one more example of how we are so intertwined with the entire planet and are truly a
global community. The sooner we can collectively acknowledge this truth, the more
likely we can diminish the effects of what has not only been proven scientifically, but
what farmers anywhere in the world will tell you is their reality. You can be part of the
solution by purchasing and supporting sustainably grown and ethically traded tropical
foods and flavors whenever possible.
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