Extension Communications
3614 Administrative Services Building
Ames, Iowa 50011-3614
(515) 294-9915
3/31/03
Contacts:
Brian Anderson, Plant Health and Protection, bpanders@iastate.edu
Jean McGuire, Continuing Education and Communication Services, (515) 294-7033,
jmcguire@iastate.edu
Yard and Garden Column for the Week Beginning April 4, 2003
The Coffee Berry Borer: A Threat to Your Morning Cup
By Brian Anderson
Plant Health and Protection Student
Iowa State University
As you read this there's a good chance that you've got a cup of steaming hot coffee in front of you. Have you ever wondered where those tasty little beans come from or, more importantly, what it took to produce them? As you take your next sip, imagine if that cup of coffee was only three-quarters as large and half as palatable. These are the sorts of effects the coffee berry borer can have on America's favorite "pick-me-up."
The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei, came from central Africa, near Ethiopia, where coffee originated. As coffee production spread across the globe, so did this pesky little insect. Over the past 100 years, the coffee berry borer has found its way into every coffee-producing region in the world, making this particular pest a global problem.
Coffee is made from roasted beans, which are mature berries, and the borer damages the coffee by feeding on the immature berry growing on the tree. The adult insect is a black rounded beetle, about 0.10-inch in length. The beetle doesn't look like much, but it packs an economically devastating punch.
The adult female lands on the green, immature berries and deposits her eggs. Worm-like larvae hatch and begin feeding on the soft, immature beans. As the infestation becomes more advanced, the damaged berries often turn brown and drop to ground, making them unharvestable. Infested berries that stay on the plant are harvested along with the healthy ones, causing a loss in quality and yield. This yield loss can significantly impact coffee supply, and in turn, significantly impact the price we pay for our caffeine fix.
Yield is not the only thing that is hurt by the borer, quality of the coffee also is lowered. Coffee quality is becoming more important as more people drink more coffee. Growers and processors take steps to filter out any infested berries, but inevitably some get through. The milling process weeds out many of the infested berries, which, instead of going to export market, find their way to local markets or the compost pile, where quality is of less concern.
The coffee berry borer larvae make the taste of the coffee unpalatably sour, hardly what most consumers desire. Imagine the effect on quality when a good part of what you're drinking is not coffee at all, but instead ground up beetle larvae! Yum.
Researchers around the globe are continually looking for new ways to control the borer, because insecticides are becoming less effective and not as readily available. Currently, the most effective and common method to control the coffee berry borers is to spray endosulfuran, a powerful, toxic insecticide not often used in the United States.
On a recent trip to Costa Rica, one of the world's major coffee-producing countries, I learned about a breeding effort at the University of Costa Rica to develop coffee berry borer-resistant coffee varieties by using genetic engineering. Early research results show promise for control of the borer. This technology is still being developed and bred into the common coffee varieties, and the hope is that a resistant coffee variety will be released and in production within 10 years.
Coffee is part of our American culture. Most of us can't make it through the morning without a hot cup of "joe." It's amazing to think that one tiny insect has such an impact on our daily habit. Growers and processors all across the world are joining together to help control this global problem. Hopefully with a little bit of technology and a bit of old-fashioned persistence, we can all have our coffee and drink it, too.
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ml: isugarden
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Editors: A color photo, suitable for publication, is available at right. Click on the thumbnail photo to go to the fullsized photo. The fullsize photo is 44K. Caption:
Adult Coffee Berry Borer, Photo by P. Baker, CABI Bioscience. |
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