Poor Farmer

Rising temperatures put 30 pct of coffee land at risk Scientists trying to help farmers adapt By Sarah Grainger Reuters May 19, 2010 SAN LUCAS TOLIMAN, Guatemala - Mexico and Central America could lose around a third of land suitable to grow coffee as global warming hurts conditions for the best quality beans, a study of regional farms shows. Specialty arabica coffee, the pride of countries like Guatemala, grows inside a very narrow band of altitude and temperature making it particularly sensitive to small changes in the climate. At the current rate temperatures are rising, there could be at least a 30 percent net loss in land suitable to farm coffee in Mexico and Central America by 2050 forcing many farmers to turn to different crops, said Peter Laderach, a lead researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture. Laderach, whose organization is based in Colombia, is leading a team of scientists who started studying 7,000 small farms in Guatemala, Mexico, El ...

By Elizabeth Campbell Bloomberg May 19, 2010 Cocoa fell for the first time this week on signs that Europe’s debt crisis may spread and reduce investor demand for commodities. Coffee also dropped. Commodity prices declined to a 10-month low after Germany’s ban on some speculative financial sales raised concerns that debts in Europe will brake economic growth and lower demand for raw materials. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 items fell for the fifth straight session and earlier reached the lowest level since July 17. “Basically, outside elements are putting pressure across the board on all commodities,” said Phil Streible, a senior market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a broker in Chicago. “It just seems like risk is being taken off the table.” Cocoa for July delivery fell $12, or 0.4 percent, to $2,837 a metric ton at 11:47 a.m. on ICE Futures U.S. in New York. Before today, the chocolate ingredient declined 13 percent this year. Cocoa hasn’t fallen further “beca...