Harvest Report from Costa Rica
It’s a hot January morning as we walk through the hills of Doña Leticia’s farm. We squint from the intensity of the sun as we admire the plump red coffee cherries next to the rich green leaves of her arabica plants. Pausing under the shade of the largest tree on the property, she and her husband Don Mario comment on the harvest of this year. While we were enjoying the heat that day, the majority of the season has been cloudy, wet and cold. In the mountains of Tarrazú and across the country, coffee-producing communities have been reporting a number of climate-induced challenges this year.
For Costa Rican coffee producers, climate change is not an abstract idea that is up for debate. Many families have been living and farming in the same region for generations. As they have been rooted in one place for years, they are bearing witness to an evident change in the environment. The concern is not if climate change is real, it is how they will be able to maintain their farms in the face of new obstacles.
This year, Doña Leticia and Don Mario have seen an increase of Cercospora. This disease causes the plant’s leaves to turn rust-colored and spotty before eventually falling off. This inhibits the process of photosynthesis and creates premature drying of the cherries, meaning the fruits shrivel and turn brown before ripening. This berry blotch means a lower quality of the harvest as well as lower productivity affecting the producers’ annual income directly.
Daniela, another producer, has struggled with drying her coffee this year. Her natural process cherries, which are kept with all of the mucilage of the fruit in-tact, are taking up to 45 days to properly dry. This is a large contrast from the usual 30-day drying period and has placed a great strain on her production. As each batch of coffee needs to spend an extra two weeks on the drying beds and patios, she is running out of time and space.
Many producers have lost portions of their harvest due to rain damage. Some have also been forced to adapt their processing methods, primarily using the washed process as opposed to natural or honey processes. While washed process beans are most likely to successfully dry in the unpredictable climate, this method requires more financial investment upfront and more water than the others and generally sells for less per bag.
However, it’s not all bad news. We are continually excited to hear success stories from the womxn we are privileged to partner with. One such story comes from Monserrat, a producer from the Los Santos region. Monserrat has implemented the anaerobic processing method for the second year in a row, after learning this method from a Bean Voyage workshop. This harvest, she has doubled her production of anaerobic coffee and has sold it at a price point three times higher than her honey process.
A number of producers have reported an increased harvest this year. Their plants are producing beautiful and abundant cherries. This may be due to any combination of improved farming practices such as pruning, mulching and renovating, as well as the natural cycles that coffee plants go through. And while it is still too early to speak definitely about the quality of this year’s harvest, we have noticed an upward tendency in quality from the cupping of early samples.
All in all, this year’s harvest has come with plenty of challenges. However, despite hurdles of climate change and other factors such as uncertain coffee prices, producers are staying hopeful.
Written by Abigail Miloud
Abigail is a third-year Health Sciences and Globalization Studies student from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. She is currently based in Costa Rica as a McCall MacBain International Fellow, working as a program intern with Bean Voyage and studying at the Universidad de Costa Rica.
We are a feminist social enterprise that collaborates with smallholder womxn coffee producers so that they are able to lead their communities towards a sustainable future.
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