Fungus, Climate Change Threatening Big Part of Global Coffee Supply

For nearly six years, a fungus that's commonly known as rust has killed so many coffee trees in Central America that scientists have speculated the region could lose up to 40 percent of its coffee crop.Now, as researchers scurry to maintain the global coffee supply, there are signs that climate change and wild weather could make the problem even worse.

"We just keep getting report after report at our partner institutions in those countries—these are growers, buyers, importers, and roasters," says Tim Schilling, director of World Coffee Research at Texas A&M University, describing the problem in places like Panama and El Salvador.Known as roya in Spanish, the rust fungus has also engulfed parts of Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Costa Rica, and Honduras.

The ultimate culprit: a phenomenon that scientists call climate variation, which sees weather patterns changing dramatically from year to year. More rain in recent years has meant more rust, which blankets the leaves of coffee trees, cuts off sunlight, and restricts photosynthesis until a coffee tree keels over and dies.

Last year, a United Nations panel of climate scientists found that downpours related to El Niño and La Niña weather events—periodic changes in the Pacific Ocean's temperature that influence rainfall near the Equator—will intensify this century, leading to even more precipitation.



The majority of South and Central America’s coffee is grown by small-scale farmers. Rust has created widespread concern about the future of coffee prices and the economic impact of thousands of farmers becoming unemployed.

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