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