USQ says hot coffee becoming less robust to climate change

It's known - and named - for its robust nature, but a University of Southern Queensland (USQ) investigation has found climate change is impacting production of popular coffee bean variety, robusta. Millions of farmers grow robusta coffee around the world, supplying nearly 40 per cent of the world's coffee - second only to the arabica bean. As part of the 'De Risk South East Asia' collaboration project with the World Meteorological Organisation and the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture, USQ researchers are looking at ways to increase the resilience of agricultural producers in the region, including the impact of climate change on coffee growers. Dr Jarrod Kath from USQ's Centre for Applied Climate Sciences said the project used a decade of yield observations from nearly 800 robusta coffee farms across South East Asia in conjunction with rain and temperature data to find the perfect temperature range for peak production. Robusta is a common crop in South East Asia due to ...