Climate Change Is Real to Coffee Growers

Coffee producers say they are getting hammered by global warming, with higher temperatures forcing growers to move to prized higher ground, putting the cash crop at risk.

"There is already evidence of important changes" said Nestor Osorio, head of the International Coffee Organization (ICO), which represents 77 countries that export or import the beans.

"In the last 25 years the temperature has risen half a degree in coffee producing countries, five times more than in the 25 years before," he said.

[...]

[P] roducers meeting in Guatemala this week are in a state of panic over the impact of warming on their livelihoods.

  Raw Story

Well, now. Will the coffee company lobbyists save the world backing climate change legislation? Or will the coffee companies find somewhere else to grow coffee and let Guatemalan coffee growers be damned? Or perhaps a synthetic coffee , and like was done with vanilla, destroy the Guatemalan coffee trade quicker than the climate can do it?

ICO figures show that production in Latin America dipped last year, largely due to poor weather, and producers say they are struggling to stay afloat.

In Colombia, one of the world's largest producers, production slumped 30-35 percent while Costa Rica and El Salvador still struggled to recover from poor harvests in 2000-2005.

[...]

"Land and water are being fought over by food and energy producers," said Osorio, "we need to make an assessment to guarantee the sustainability of and demand for coffee production."

That answers my question about whether or not the Guatemalan coffee producers will be left in the lurch. The energy lobby outstrips the coffee lobby, I have no doubt.

The National Coffee Association of Guatemala -- a regional leader -- said production in nine Latin American countries was expected to fall 28 percent in the first three months of this season

You'll be paying more for your cup of joe.

And will this all somehow be symbolic of the Coffee Party?