The challenges to coffee production posed by climate change are enormous. Producers immediately feel the negative effects, yet at the same time, they must remain competitive to survive – a difficult situation.
Eric Rahn, coffee researcher and agronomist from CIAT in Colombia, sees two main developments that the future of coffee could take: on the one hand, increasingly intensive agriculture, and on the other hand, a rethinking towards agroforestry systems. There isn't much room in between for those who wish to continue making a living from coffee production.
The prospects are not very bright – "most producers don't plant the right variety," says Eric Rahn. In the context of optimized varieties, expensive fertilizers, and falling coffee prices, developing a strategy that provides security as a producer only works if the risk is distributed among several parties.
In this 45-minute conversation with Philipp Schallberger, Eric Rahn compares the challenges of coffee producers in Vietnam, Central, and South America and explains in detail why agroforestry systems can be a key to future coffee production.
Interview and editing: Philipp Schallberger
