Coffee is one of the world’s most treasured commodities. Without coffee, many Americans would not be able to function in the mornings. Many coffee drinkers can be picky about the coffee that they drink. High quality Colombian coffee that is expertly grown in the Andes Mountains is often preferred by the world’s foremost coffee snobs. Unfortunately for lovers of Colombian coffee, an insect pest is currently threatening coffee plant survival within the mountains of Colombia. Realizing the chaos that would grip the world if Colombian coffee were to disappear, a large team of some of the world’s most prominent scientists are working around the clock in order to eradicate an insect pest that has become a major threat to coffee plantations in Colombia.
The production of coffee provides numerous Colombians with a source of income. There are over five hundred family owned coffee bean farms in Colombia. The coffee beans grown in Colombia are responsible for filling one and a half billion cups of coffee every day. These coffee bean farms are currently under attack from various pests. Destructive fungi is a common pest that is being found more and more often in Colombian coffee bean fields. In addition to fungi, the coffee borer beetle is a type of insect pest that is rapidly destroying coffee bean farms in Colombia. In an effort to control this insect pest, the Cenicafe Research Institute has numerous researchers stationed in the Andes Mountains in order to study how the borer beetle operates. These scientists are being tasked with saving the world’s supply of Colombian coffee by any means necessary. The research team is focusing on unconventional methods for controlling borer beetles in coffee bean farms. Since Colombia is by no means a rich nation, researchers are exploring cost-free methods of borer beetle control. The scientists are researching how farmers can take advantage of the climate, the soil, and even specific insect pests in order to maximize the quality of coffee bean yields.
Do you think that coffee bean farms in Colombia will take a major hit from more than one insect crop pest?