Tariffs. Climate change. Labor woes. Coffee growers and industry stakeholders alike face numerous challenges these days, all of which impact the supply, quality, and price of coffee products for the end consumer.
But there are positive developments, too. In a recent conversation with AgFunderNews, Ram Lisaey, head of global agronomy at Israeli precision ag firm Netafim, outlined how drip irrigation technologies might be able to help mitigate some of the risks coffee farmers are up against.
Modern drip irrigation began in Israel in the mid-twentieth century, thanks in no small part to the efforts of sixty-year-old company Netafim, which is still one of the world’s leading firms for drip irrigation technologies.
The company introduced the concept to crops such as corn and tobacco in the 1990s, and has since embarked on multiple projects around the world to bring it to coffee, too.
Historically, farmers in most of the world’s coffee-growing regions—for both Arabica and Robusta—haven’t needed drip irrigation, says Lisaey.
Now, more growers turn to it as climate-related events and trends threaten yields and impact quality.
Climate and consumption trends driving coffee challenges
“Coffee has a fairly unique physiology, and you need optimal conditions for flowering and for the berry to grow to have high quality, especially in Arabica,” explains Lisaey.
“We see dramatic changes in climate all over the world, and Arabica yields and quality suffers dramatically. We see that with coffee prices, which have increased in the last couple of years. It’s also been up and down a lot, mostly because of droughts and high temperatures, but also low temperatures.”
Arabica coffee requires moderate temperatures (around 15 to 21 celsius), as yield and quality diminish if it’s too hot or too cold. Recent research suggests Arabica yields are likely to decrease by 23–35 % in Latin America and 16–21 % in Africa in the coming years. Robusta, which comes from a hardier plant, is expected to fill in the gaps.
Changes in rainfall are also impacting yields, says Lisaey. While the amount of rainfall itself hasn’t changed dramatically over the years in coffee-growing regions, its distribution has, which means longer periods of drought that can impact plant growth.
The last few decades have also seen an increase in coffee consumption, and this growth has been steady, says Lisaey. This includes consumer demand from countries with a historically low percentage of coffee drinkers such as China and India.
He suggests part of this growing demand is the ubiquitous nature of coffee machines a la Nespresso and Keurig, which use the less-expensive Robusta and have made their way into hotel rooms and conference rooms alike in the last several years.
“It’s a fairly steady increase of a few percent every year in Robusta,” he says.
‘Insurance’ for coffee growers
Growers usually install drip irrigation when replanting, which Lisaey says brings a lot of advantages. “You can fight nematodes. You can increase the soil fertility, and you can shorten the time before the first harvest.”
In Vietnam, for example, where Robusta is a hugely important crop, time to first harvest can go down from five years to just 30 months, he adds.
The change to drip irrigation in coffee is also “surprisingly dramatic” when it comes to increases in yield and quality, with increases remaining steady year after year with continued use of drip irrigation tech.
Lisaey likens it to providing “a very boring roller coaster ride” in terms of yield and quality: “Instead of the highs and lows, it’s fairly steady, which is really good for the companies who purchase the coffee and definitely great for the farmer.”
“It’s a kind of insurance. [You may not] need to irrigate for four or five months, but then you get a dry spell of six weeks, and it’s exactly where you need the water for the berry to grow, or for the flowering to happen. If you don’t get your water, you can just lose your yield.”
Along those lines, Netafim is also gearing up to launch an insurance policy for farmers in Vietnam. Those who install drip irrigation will be able to access an insurance plan offered in partnership between Netafim and a third party (as-yet unnamed).
Mitigate or move on?
Lisaey expects to see more growers around the world adopting drip irrigation in future.
“Climate change is happening, and people will either need to find ways to mitigate this change or move their fields. Taking these millions of hectares and moving them to cooler placers, I’m not sure we have this capacity.”
While acknowledging that irrigation and fertigation are not the only mitigation solutions, he adds that they are crucial for helping keep coffee prices, along with livelihoods for farmers, steady.
“If you can get more from every hectare, you will need [fewer] hectares. It means that you will use less land to grow the same amount of coffee that we all need and consume,” he says, adding that this is a huge win for the environment.
“When you’re using 35% to 50% less water, about 15% less fertilizer, and less labor and energy across millions of hectares, the effect on the environment is quite good.”
