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Carbon and water footprints in Brazilian coffee plantations - the spatial and temporal distribution
Abstract
The future of many coffee growing regions, such as Brazil, depends on strategies to allow the minimization of the negative impacts of climate change. Still the own contribution of coffee cultivation for global warming is largely unknown. Water and carbon footprints are concepts that indicate the potential negative impact of a specific product, underlining which part of the process is the major responsible for it. In this context, the objective of this study was to quantify and spatialize the water and carbon footprints from coffee crop in different regions of Brazil, and to find the proportional weight of coffee production in the total emission of CO2 and water consumption in the context of Brazilian agriculture. For this end, water and carbon footprints were estimated and spatialized for Brazilian regions along 10 productive seasons (from 2004/2005 to 2014/2015), based on data of plantation area (ha) and coffee production (tons of beans). It is concluded that the estimates of annual carbon and water footprints were 19.791 million t CO2-equivalent and 49,284 million m3 of water, with higher values from the Southeast region. This corresponded to a moderate (ca. 5%) value for the emissions of greenhouse gases, but a relevant water footprint in the context of Brazilian agriculture.
... Searching for the sustainability of the coffee production sector focuses mainly on environmental and social issues (Hajjar et al. 2019). It depends on strategies to allow the reducing the negative environmental impacts, such as those related to water consumption (Martins et al. 2018;Gaitán-Cremaschi et al. 2018;Alixandre et al. 2020), which could be seen as a disadvantage (Perdoná et al. 2012) or an advantage (Arruda and Grande 2003;Subedi 2011). ...
... This topic is not a consensus in the literature. While some authors see it as a problem related to the droughts and water crisis, a concern for the next generations (Perdoná et al. 2012;Martins et al. 2018;Gaitán-Cremaschi et al. 2018;Alixandre et al. 2020;Embrapa 2022), others see as an advantage (Arruda and Grande 2003;Subedi 2011). In some cases, this high consumption could be influenced by insufficient knowledge about irrigation techniques. ...
... ,Isquierdo et al. (2012),Perdoná et al. (2012),Martins et al. (2018),Gaitán- Cremaschi et al. (2018),Hajjar et al. (2019),Alixandre et al. (2020),Lopes et al. (2021) Conscious use of irrigationArruda and Grande (2003), Subedi(2011), Isquierdo et al. (2012), Lopes et al. (2021) The use of chemical fertilizers Technical issues Mäder et al. (2002), Coltro et al. (2006), Bruno et al. (2011), Almeida (2016), Santos et al. (2018), Winter et al. (2020) Costs Poudel et al. (2015), Ho (2017) Quality (certification) Bravo-Monroy et al. (2016), Barra (2019) Organic/conventional production -organic fertilizers Roel et al. (2017), Azevedo Junior et al. (2019), Trinh et al. (2020) Packages and residue discards Mello and Scapini (2016), Saed et al. (2010), Faleiros et al. (2020) Economics Cooperativism General Perfetti et al. (2013), Faleiros et al. (2020) Conflicts Campo (2017) Reasons/assessment Pereira (2013), Perfetti et al. (2013), Bravo-Monroy et al. (2016), Forney and Häberli (2017), Mojo et al. (2017), Bro et al. (2019), Almaraz et al. (2019), Fischer et al. (2020b) Level of association Latynsky and Berger (2017) The monoculture The obstacle to a sustainable production Hergoualch et al. (2012), Meyfroidt et al. (2013), Dietz et al. (2018), Acosta-Alba et al. (2020) Production decreased Tumwebaze and Byakagaba (2016), Androcioli et al. (2018), Perdoná and Soratto (2020) Plantation area Tsai and Chen (2017), Gomes et al. (2020a) Productivity/efficiency Binam et al. (2003), Galdeano-Gomez et al. (2017), ICO (2019) Certification Tran and Goto (2019), Barra (2019), Faleiros et al. (2020), Winter et al. (2020) Farmers' incomes Latynsky and Berger (2017), Gaitán-Cremaschi et al. (2018), Tran and Goto (2019), Winter et al. (2020) Crops' storage de Oliveira et al. (2014), Corrêa et al. (2016), Pazmiño-Arteaga et al. (2019), Malau et al. (2019), Tripetch and Borompichaichartkul (2019), Winter et al. (2020) Sales constraints Mujawamariya et al. (2013), Cezar and Fantinel (2018), Perdoná and Soratto (2020) Rural credit Incomes and investments Lopes et al. (2016), Gomes et al. (2020b) Requirements (e.g., the interest rate, grace period) Tan and Hu (2017), Twumasi et al. (2019), Liu et al. (2020) Loans to MSBs Anwar et al. (2020) Access Lopes et al. (2016), Lopes et al. (2016), Liu et al. (2020), Lerner et al. (2021) Demand for the loans Tan and Hu (2017) The use of credit cards Fernandes (2019) Social Age of coffee farmers General Kissi and Herzig (2020) Youth people Leavy and Hossain (2014), Twumasi et al. (2019) ...
This paper aims to assess the sustainability of coffee production in Brazil by a framework at the farm level. The framework developed comprises four dimensions of sustainability structured from the literature review. Primary data were collected from 20 coffee farms selected from the most producing communities in the Planalto de Vitória da Conquista locality, sited in Centro-Sul Baiano middle region at the Bahia state. The main environmental issues identified related to coffee farmers are inadequate management of water consumption, influenced by the lack of knowledge about irrigation techniques in some cases, and the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. The economic evaluation of the activity revealed a low index of producers belonging to a class organization. In social aspects the issues are low level of technical/technological instruction for coffee producers, temporary workers are often used, the old age of most producers, the lack of family succession for the activity, low incomes, the high number of temporary workers, and the absence of the worker gains. As for the technical dimension, only half of the farmers invest in innovation, which causes high obsolescence of their equipment and machinery and a low participation rate in training courses. In the environmental dimension, the farmers return the packages of pesticides to the stores where they bought them. In the technical dimension, most farmers perform soil analysis. Besides addressing the identified challenges, the initiatives can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the 9th, 12th, and 13th.
... Cultivation and production of coffee are stages that have a significant environmental impact, which is especially attributed to the consumption and contamination of water (water footprint). Moreover, coffee is one of the crops with the greatest water footprint compared to others, such as wheat, corn, soybeans, sugar cane, and cotton, in terms of the volume of water consumed and polluted per quantity produced but also it has an especially high green water footprint (WFgreen) due to its water consumption and a high gray water footprint as a result of the wet-processing method required by this crop (Arévalo and Sabogal, 2012;Arévalo and Campuzano, 2013;IDEAM, 2015;Martins et al., 2018). ...
... To estimate the actual evapotranspiration (ETa) of the coffee crops in the different producing areas of the country, the methodology developed by Cenicafé was applied, which is based on the study of moisture balance in the soils of Colombian coffee growers, especially those under shaded systems and those with an open exposure (Jaramillo, 2006). The reference evapotranspiration (ET 0 ) was estimated from the expression of García and López (1970) that was modified by Jaramillo (1982) ...
... This condition was assumed because it is the most unfavorable scenario concerning crop evapotranspiration (compared to a shaded condition). The details of the expressions described above can be found in Jaramillo (2006); Ramírez et al. (2010). ...
El problema de la disponibilidad de agua y su importante papel en el sector agrícola, específicamente en la presión que existe actualmente por el recurso hídrico, pero además en países como Colombia donde el cultivo del café tiene una importancia histórica, cultural y económica, lo que hace necesario un estudio de la huella hídrica de este cultivo en el país. Aquí se presentan los resultados de la huella hídrica de la producción de café (cultivo y beneficio) en Colombia, por el método de beneficio tradicional y ecológico. Para su cálculo se siguió la metodología propuesta por Water Footprint Network. La huella hídrica verde promedio del cultivo de café en Colombia es de 8.746 m3 t-1, no tiene huella hídrica azul porque no requiere riego y la huella hídrica gris es del orden de 7.000 m3 t-1. El beneficio tradicional de café no tiene huella hídrica verde, la huella hídrica azul es de 4.00 m3 t-1 y tiene una huella hídrica gris de 3.200 m3 t-1. El beneficio ecológico Becolsub® tiene una huella hídrica de azul de 0,60 m3 t-1 y una huella hídrica gris de 1.739 m3 t-1; mientras la tecnología Ecomill® sin vertimientos de aguas residuales tiene una huella hídrica azul de 0,55 m3 t-1 y no tiene huella hídrica gris porque no presenta vertimientos. Esto implica que el método de procesamiento ecológico Becolsub® Esto implica que el método de procesamiento ecológico Becolsub® disminuye la huellahídrica en un 45,7% y en un 99,9% con el proceso ecológico Ecomill® (sin descarga de aguas residuales) en comparación con la tecnología tradicional de procesamiento húmedo. A nivel mundial, Vietnam cuenta con la menor huella hídrica, seguido por Colombia, Etiopia, Brasil, Perú e Indonesia. La huella hídrica del café, depende del clima y el rendimiento del cultivo, por esta razón, la huella hídrica del cultivo de café varia significativamente con el lugar y el periodo de evaluación.
... kg −1 green coffee 18.9 × 10 −3 m 3 water eq. kg −1 green coffee Martins et al. (2018) Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved. ...
... Regarding water use, the results obtained in this study are lower than the results obtained by Giraldi-Diaz (2018) and Acosta-Alba et al. (2019). However, the values obtained are higher than the results obtained by Usva et al. (2020) and Martins et al. (2018). These differences are mainly due to the use of irrigation reported by these authors, while only one of the farms evaluated in this study uses irrigation. ...
Purpose
The aim of this study was to update the previously LCA study of the coffee production in Brazil in order to estimate environmental indicators, namely carbon footprint, water use, fossil resource depletion, etc. of coffee cultivation in the main regions of coffee production in Brazil, besides roasted coffee beans and ground roasted coffee.
Methods
The scope was to evaluate the coffee production systems located at Minas Gerais and São Paulo States, which have different climatic conditions. The system boundaries considered the stages from raw material extraction until the farm gate (green coffee beans) and industry gate (roasted coffee beans and ground roasted coffee), i.e., a cradle-to-gate system. Farm-specific data were combined with agricultural production and industrial data to elaborate coffee production environmental indicators. The data were obtained from conventional and organic coffee producers for the crops 2017/18 and 2018/19. The functional unit adopted was 1 kg green coffee beans and 1 kg roasted coffee beans and ground roasted coffee.
Results and discussion
A reduction of fertilizers and electricity consumption and an increase of diesel and limestone consumption were observed when the results of conventional coffee cultivation are compared with our previous study developed for the crops 2001/2002 and 2002/2003. Approximately 70% of the CO2 emissions was due to field emissions related to urea and limestone applications. Field emissions are also the major contributor for other seven impact categories evaluated. Climate change, including biogenic carbon and land use change, showed negative values for green coffee beans due to carbon fixation in the product. Fertilizer production was responsible for approx. 60% of fossil resource scarcity.
Conclusions
For conventional coffee, the GWP100 was approx. 1.4 kg CO2-eq. kg⁻¹ green coffee beans and 1.8 kg CO2-eq. kg⁻¹ roasted coffee beans and ground roasted coffee. For organic coffee, the GWP100 was approx. 0.3 kg CO2-eq. kg⁻¹ green coffee beans and 0.5 kg CO2-eq. kg⁻¹ roasted coffee beans and ground roasted coffee. The use of water is also low, as the farms evaluated do not adopt the irrigation system at the coffee growing stage.
Recommendations
Improvements should be concentrated on the agricultural stage of the coffee production chain since this is the stage with the greatest contribution to the environmental impact categories. Some examples that can contribute to reducing GHG emissions as well as other environmental impact categories are increasing productivity, lower input consumption (fertilizers, correctives, and fuels), and optimizing transport stages.
... One study reported that shading measures increased the WF of arabica coffee (Silva et al., 2022). Based on the global average green coffee WF of 18925m 3 /t, Martins et al. (2018) investigated the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of the WF of coffee plantation in Brazil. Some researchers studied the WF of Colombia coffee at the cultivation and wet processing stages (Leal-Echeverri & Tobón, 2021). ...
In order to measure the impact of Yunnan coffee cultivation and primary processing on the water resources and water environment, this study calculated the water footprint (WF) of the cultivation and processing stages of Yunnan coffee by employing the methodology described in the Water Footprint Evaluation Manual (Hoekstra 2011). The results showed that the WF of coffee cherries at cultivation stage was 832m³/t, of which green WF accounted for 70.3% and grey WF accounted for 29.7%. At the primary processing stage, different processing methods and effluent discharge scenarios could lead to significantly different grey WF. Under the scenario of direct discharge of waste water, the grey WF of green coffee was 76,125 m³/t and 6544 m³/t for wet and semi-wet processing, respectively, and it could be reduced by 95–99% when the wastewater was discharged according to standards. When using micro-water processing or dry processing, the grey WF was zero. The WF of green coffee was 5203 m³/t under conventional cultivation, micro -water processing scenarios, which corresponds to a virtual water content of only 43.4 L for a cup (125 ml) of coffee. The coffee cherry micro-water processing technology significantly reduces water consumption during processing and eliminates wastewater generation, making it highly commendable for widespread adoption.
... Por otro lado, Simapro brinda al usuario la oportunidad de seleccionar y aplicar la metodología de su elección de entre las disponibles en su base de datos, lo que le permite estimar diversos indicadores ambientales, incluyendo la HC. De acuerdo con lo reportado por los autores que emplearon los softwares (Van Rikxoor et al. 2014;Martins et al. 2015;Ortíz-Gonzalo et al. 2017;Martins et al. 2018;Trinh, Ku, Lan y Chen, 2019). Estas herramientas facilitan el proceso de cálculo y análisis de la HC al proporcionar una plataforma práctica y accesible para los investigadores y profesionales que deseen llevar a cabo evaluaciones de carbono de manera más eficiente y precisa. ...
Objetivo: conocer el estado actual de la investigación sobre la evaluación de Huella de Carbono (HC) del café y su cadena de valor. Metodología: se realizó una revisión sistematizada de literatura procedente de bases de datos bibliográficos internacionales, identificando cinco aspectos; 1) lugar de evaluación, 2) alcance de la evaluación, 3) metodología empleada, 4) resultado de la HC y 5) unidad funcional de medida considerada. Resultados: se revisaron 16 artículos de 16 países, evaluando distintos alcances de la cadena productiva del café. Se encontró la aplicación de seis diferentes metodologías, incluyendo normativas internacionales y softwares especializados. La HC calculada oscila entre los 0.12 kg/CO2eq y los 14.61 kg/CO2eq según alcance de la investigación en la cadena productiva del café. Limitaciones: escaso acervo de publicaciones obtenidas en el proceso de búsqueda sistematizada. Conclusiones: se puntualiza la necesidad de incrementar la investigación sobre el tema en zonas productoras de baja escala, ya que la mayoría de las metodologías y aplicaciones se enfocaron en áreas donde se concentra la producción y tecnificación del grano, dejando de lado a otras zonas productoras que requieren atención respecto a sus procesos productivos.
... Recently, the global cocoa market has emphasized the implementation of eco-friendly production systems (Wiryadiputra, 2013), including water conservation, which is also a critical concern for other crops like coffee (Martins et al., 2018). While evaluations on the water requirement of cocoa trees have been carried out (Carr and Lockwood, 2011;Naranjo-Merino et al., 2018), efforts to increase water efficiency in seedling establishment in cocoa-producing countries like Indonesia are still lacking. ...
The nursery phase plays a crucial role in rejuvenating cocoa plantations as it significantly impacts the quality and productivity of the mature trees in the field. However, despite its significance, there remains a lack of understanding regarding its contribution to the water footprint (WF) in cocoa production. This study aims to assess the WF of various propagation techniques to promote sustainable nursery practices. Data on nurseries were collected at the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute in Jember, East Java, Indonesia, from June 2017 to January 2018. The results revealed that propagation accounted for a total WF ranging from 74.28 to 319.41 m3.ha-1 of established cocoa trees, with an average of 186.68 m3. This total WF consisted of 9.02 to 12.89 m3 (7.69%) attributed to seed production and 61.39 to 283.34 m3 (92.30%) attributed to the nursery phase. Among the different nursery techniques studied, the production of true seedlings exhibited the lowest WF, followed by side grafting. To optimize cocoa rejuvenation and minimize WF, it is crucial to carefully select the appropriate nursery technique. Further evaluation is necessary to explore the potential benefits of implementing precision irrigation techniques to reduce WF during the nursery phase. By focusing on sustainable nursery practices, we can enhance the overall sustainability of cocoa production.
... Compared to other coffee-producing regions in America, the carbon footprint of the Central American region is 50% less than that reported for monocultures in Brazil (1.4 kgCO 2eq /kg cherry coffee , Martins et al., 2018), and 30% higher than the arabica coffee produced in Tolima area, Colombia (0.24 kgCO 2eq /kg cherry coffee , Andrade et al., 2014). This difference may be due to the degree of technification and coffee intensity cultivation in the different coffee-growing regions. ...
Knowing the carbon footprint of agricultural systems will allow us to create mitigation and carbon capture strategies to mitigate environmental impacts. Here we reviewed the available literature about the carbon footprint associated with the cultivation of Arabica coffee in Central America region, ranging from traditional polycultures to unshaded monocultures. Subsequently, we reviewed the carbon storage data about different C stocks of a coffee plantation (i.e. living biomass, litter and soil). Finally, actions to mitigate emissions at the farm level are suggested. The major findings of this review were: i) the carbon footprints vary from 0.51 kg CO2eq/kgcherry coffee in traditional polycultures to 0.64 kg CO2eq/kgcherry coffee in unshaded monocultures. ii) Nitrogenfertilization is the main factor contributing to the carbon footprint. iii) The amount of carbon stored in living biomass varies from 53.6 Mg/ha in traditional polycultures to 9.7 Mg/ha in unshaded monocultures. The adequate use of fertilizers, periodic monitoring of soil fertility, the incorporation of functional trees (e.g. shade trees and/or nitrogen fixers) to plantations, soil conservation practices and the use of biofertilizers are some of the recommended actions to mitigate the carbon footprint associated with coffee plantations.Key words: Coffea arabica; carbon dioxide; nitrous oxide; climate change; carbon sequestration.
... WFP (m 3 /kg) was 10 for coffee cherries and 27 for roasted and ground coffee. Based on the data from 116 coffee farms in five Latin American countries, van Rikxoort et al. [52] (2014) evaluated CFP of four production systems: (1) traditional polyculture; (2) commercial polyculture; (3) shaded monoculture; and (4) unshaded monoculture. Rikxoort and colleagues found that polycultures have a lower mean CFP of 6.2-7.3 ...
Increase in global populations of humans and domesticated livestock are impacting the resource use and have a large ecological footprint (EFP). The ever-increasing EFP of humanity is accelerating climate change, increasing water scarcity and contamination, aggravating soil degradation, and dwindling above and below-ground biodiversity. Several sub-components of EFP include resource footprint (RFP) which comprises land (LFP), water (WFP), nitrogen (NFP), biodiversity (BFP) power (PFP), carbon (CFP), etc. Agricultural practices (e.g., tillage, fertilizer and pesticide use, farm operations such as irrigation, harvesting, baling, etc.) also cause the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO2, CH4, and N2O, and these gasses equivalent in their global warming potential (GWP). In general, CFP is reported as CO2eq by converting CH4 and N2O into CO2. The Human diet, consisting of plant and/or animal-based products and grown diversely with or without chemicals, irrigation, and modern innovations, has a wide range of EFP. The latter, is the widely used measure of resource consumption and humanity’s impact on the planet. EFP encompasses the cumulative GHG emissions by an individual, community, organization, institution, nation for a specific service or product. It can vary widely because of using different reference systems of the studies and differences in system boundaries. Therefore, standardization of the methodologies may require a better understanding of the various ways related CFP concepts are relevant for decisions at individual to global levels. There is no one size that fits all. It is also widely recognized that the global average per capita CFP of humanity, estimated at 4.47 Mg CO2eq in 2020 is not sustainable, and must be reduced to < 2 Mg CO2eqif the global warming is to be limited to 2 0C. Therefore, understanding the magnitude of CFP of agriculture and food systems (FSs), and factors affecting it, can lead to identification of technological options which can enhance the use efficiency of inputs, reduce wastage, and decrease the CFP. Different FSs affect CFP through diverse components of production and supply chains, and in the manner in which food is stored and cooked and the waste is disposed or recycled. There is need to adopt international standard (ISO) protocol. Therefore, this review identifies and deliberates technological options which may be needed for reducing CFP of humanity in general but that of agriculture and FSs in particular, while also advancing Sustainable Development Goals of the Agenda 2030 of the United Nations. CFP of diverse agro-ecosystems, land use and management systems are also discussed. Specific examples of CFP include type of farming systems (organic vs.. conventional, dietary preferences, and food waste). There are several options for the humanity to change lifestyle and make it more sustainable. Food waste, about one-third of all, is an important factor impacting CFP while also accelerating global warming. The impact of avoidable food waste on gaseous emissions, estimated at 2.0 to 3.6 Mg CO2eq per Mg of food waste on dry weight basis, must be minimized.
... Growth regulators are synthetic or natural chemical compounds that can modulate and regulate the physiological aspects of plants (Ashikari et al., 2005;Pu et al., 2018). In a world where agriculture is increasingly vulnerable to climate change (Bunn et al., 2015;Martins et al., 2018;Moreira et al., 2020) and requering about food demand (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations -FAO, 2019), studying the action of these growth regulators in the development of coffee plants becomes of fundamental importance (Khan et al., 2020;Sasi et al., 2021;Buono, 2021) The action of growth regulators on plant metabolism may have the ability to improve the modulation of its growth and development (Bacilieri et al., 2016;Santner et al., 2009). In coffee plants, studies have shown that the application of phytohormones such as giberililin, indole acetic acid, cytokinin and zeatin in controlled use is capable of maximizing plagiotropic branch growth, number of nodes and rosettes and greater fruit harvest. ...
Coffee is one of the main agricultural commodities in the world. Thus, research aimed at reducing the productive risks of the crop has been increasingly encouraged, among which the use of plant hormones stands out. In addition, the objective of this work was to analyze the effect of the application of indole-3-acetic acid on the growth, nutrition and gas exchange of young Coffea arabica L plants. The experiment was carried out in the field in the city of Alegre, Espírito Santo, Brazil. The experimental design used was randomized blocks, testing the effect of the application of five doses of indole-3-acetic acid in young Arabica coffee plants, in four replications. The application of indole-3-acetic acid stimulates the growth rate of the stem diameter at a concentration of 60 mg L-1, as well as gas exchange in coffee plants, however it did not favor the increase in the substomatic concentration of CO2 instantaneousand intrinsic efficiency in water use and instantaneous carboxylation efficiency. Although the application of EIA was not able to provide direct gains in coffee growth during the experimental period, a longer evaluation of the treatments would possibly provide promising results for the coffee crop. The multivariate analysis showed that higher doses of auxin have a high relationship with the macronutrients studied.Key words: Gas exchange; auxin; hormonal balance; AIA; Coffea arabica L.
... Coffee has a significantly large total water footprint (green and blue water) compared to other major crops cultivated in coffee-producing countries (Ariza Camacho and Arevalo Uribe, 2018;Leal-Echeverri and Tobón, 2021;Martins et al., 2018), but also compared to the globally most cultivated crops (Lovarelli et al., 2016;Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011;Vanham and Bidoglio, 2013). However, considering the global production, its cultivation mostly relies on green water, and less on irrigation (blue water), whereas considering single countries there is a high heterogeneity, with countries where irrigation covers most coffee water demand, and countries where irrigation is not needed at all (Mekonnen and Hoekstra, 2011). ...
Coffee consumption is concentrated in the "Global North", while production is mainly located in the "Global South". This trade-driven dependency leads to the exploitation of natural resources. As an export-oriented cash crop, such dependency jeopardizes the existence of a fair distribution of the risks and revenues among all the actors taking part in its globalized supply chain. Coffee trees are mainly rain-fed and only partly irrigated. However, the increasing global coffee demand led to higher consumption of freshwater, which can exacerbate the stressed condition of already stressed water basins. This study quantifies the impact of global coffee consumption on water scarcity, considering the larger system made of producer and consumer countries. The global displacement of such impact is driven by consumer preferences. We found that the US, EU and Asian countries' coffee consumption create impact on water scarcity mostly in African and South American countries, which is also representative of the economic disparities existing behind the global trade flows. Climate change will likely affect the varieties currently preferred by global consumers. Therefore, immediate environmental sustainability actions including water resource preservation are necessary to face current and future challenges.
... The presence of a monoculture can affect social habits and the environment, as observed to oil palm cultivation in Malaysia [13] and pineapple production in Costa Rica [14], where both increased inequality, losses in human rights, land concentration and food insecurity to local communities, especially small farms. Considering the environmental impacts, coffee crop contributes to high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, soil erosion, and regional climate changes (high water and median carbon footprint) [15], and sustainable techniques should be incentivized in this production [16]. ...
The Valle de Tenza region, located in the Department of Boyacá—Colombia, shows a transition situation from the family farming of various food crops to coffee farming following an agribusiness model. From this perspective, in order to understand the current scenario of food sovereignty in Guateque and Guayatá, two cities of the Valle de Tenza, this study evaluated socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural aspects based on questionnaires and semi-structured interviews applied to peasant families that practice family farming and/or coffee farming. Moreover, these same aspects were also evaluated among urban food consumers. These evaluations aimed to assess the perception of the interviewees about the availability of regional food crops and current eating habits in relation to those from a decade or more ago, in addition to investigating their knowledge about the traditional cuisine of the region. The cultivation of regional food crops used to prepare local and regional traditional dishes such as piquete , sancocho , and different amasijos based on corn and sagú ( Maranta arundinacea ) has been significantly reduced. The investigation revealed changes in the eating habits of the Valle de Tenza inhabitants due to the consumption of processed foods and the reduced cultivation of local traditional food crops. As a consequence of this transition to coffee production, the most representative traditional foods are being replaced by more profitable crops, including coffee and some fruits not traditionally grown in the Valle de Tenza and with more local and regional acceptance. This reduction can affect food availability and change the gastronomic and cultural identity of the Valle de Tenza population, among other aspects related to food sovereignty.
... The CF was also evaluated in yellow melon exporting farms (they account for about 99% of Brazilian exports), and the estimated value was 710 kg CO 2 eq/t of exported melon. The authors suggested that this value could be reduced by 44% if melon production were located in pre-existing agricultural areas, as nitrogen fertilization would be reduced and no plastic trays would be used in melon production [37] . ...
Brazil is one of the main producers in the agricultural and forestry sector worldwide, with production systems based on high consumption of inputs that contribute to high levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This paper presents an analysis of the scenario of national GHG emissions and carbon footprints in the major production systems of agriculture, including livestock production and forestry, and the potential for soil carbon storage as a mitigation strategy under these systems. The main sources of national GHG emissions are beef cattle due to enteric fermentation and the management of agricultural soils through the use of nitrogen fertilizers. The increasing adoption of low-carbon agriculture has led to a reduction in the carbon footprint through no-till technologies, agrosilvopastoral systems, N2 fixation, and tree plantations. These technologies deserve to be increasingly disseminated to generate economic opportunities leading to financial gains from the commercialization of carbon credits and payment for environmental services.
... Isso se deve a problemas no manejo da lavoura e no pouco uso de técnicas mitigadoras de estresses abióticos frequentes como o déficit hídrico. Como reflexo dessa situação, sabe-se que a reduzida disponibilidade de água promove alterações bioquímicas e morfofisiológicas propícias ao comprometimento do crescimento e produtividade (Martins et al., 2018). ...
O estresse hídrico em plantas pode ser mitigado a partir da aplicação de substâncias elicitoras que estimulam as diferentes respostas de defesas fisiológicas. O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a efetividade do ácido salicílico (AS) como pré-ativador do sistema de defesa ao déficit hídrico sobre o crescimento e características fotossintéticas de plantas de cafeeiro. O trabalho foi conduzido em casa de vegetação coberta com plástico transparente e laterais com tela que intercepta 50% da radiação solar. Adotou-se o delineamento experimental inteiramente casualizado em arranjo fatorial 6 x 2, com seis concentrações de AS (0,0mM; 0,05mM; 0,1mM; 0,2mM; 0,4mM e 0,8 mM) e duas cultivares de cafeeiro (IPR 100 e Tupi) com cinco repetições. O AS foi fornecido aos 100, 120 e 140 dias após a emergência (DAE) através da aplicação foliar. Aos 135 DAE todas as plantas foram submetidas a 10 dias de déficit hídrico severo com suspensão total da irrigação. Aos 145 DAE foram avaliados as variáveis de crescimento, pigmentos fotossintéticos, teor relativo de água e taxa de transpiração. O AS nas concentrações entre 0,05 a 0,8 mg L-1 levaram a redução do crescimento e acúmulo de biomassa nas cultivares de cafeeiro. O AS não ativou os mecanismos de defesa de plantas de cafeeiro sob déficit hídrico e as concentrações testadas influenciaram negativamente nas características fisiológicas das plantas. Dessa forma, a hipótese de ação do regulador vegetal como elicitor não foi comprovada no presente estudo, no entanto, por se tratar de um tema inovador e incipiente quanto à informações esclarecedoras, registra-se a necessidade de pesquisas futuras e desenvolvimento de trabalhos com concentrações variadas e efetivas para a reprogramação metabólica e fisiológica das plantas.
... The development of sugarcane plantations demands concept application of precise agriculture (precise farming), namely precision of location (Martins et al., 2018; Baranowska et al., 2019), dose, time, data and information as well as technology (Carvalho et al., 2018;Wildayana et al., 2016). Such precise agriculture will lead to the management system based on technology and needed information, which is capable of identifying, analyzing, and site-specific managing of temporal and spatial soil variability, thus the optimal sugarcane productivity can be achieved, which is beneficial, sustainable (Wildayana and Armanto, 2018; Rybak et al., 2019; Kaleta et al., 2019) and does not pollute the environment due to input and agricultural machinery (Li, 2018;Guzeeva, 2019). ...
Uniforming sugarcane management without any knowledge of soil variability could result in some parts of a sugarcane field receiving insufficient inputs, while other parts receive an excess input. The research aimed to assess soil variability and sugarcane biomass along Ultisol toposequences in Central Lampung, Indonesia. Two sugarcane catenas and one forest catena were fully described in the fields. Soil horizons are represented by Ap/Ah/M, E, B, Cc and Cg with dominant clay translocation. Gleying symptom was found only in the lower slope to depression. Concretion depths can be used as an erosion indicator if the soil parent material is well characterized. Soil P has a maximum value of Ap horizon and decreases with depth and no effect of internal erosion in the form of soil P accumulation in subsoils, except for the colluviated horizon. Kaolinite clay is dominantly found to buffer changes in pH, except Ap horizon of sugarcane. The organic C depends on the pedogenesis and catena form. Al saturation indicates the dominant soil weathering intensive. Al saturation in the Ap horizon (Catena G1; G2) was reduced from 80 % to 20-40 % caused by liming and fertilization. Catena position was the main factors causing the increasing soil variability, which was responsible for the variability of sugarcane biomass. The sugarcane biomass increased with decreasing the slopes. The highest biomass was found in the depression (105 tones/ha) if the sedimentation process is characterized by the formation horizon M and accompanied by the nutrient accumulation from the hilltops.
... Drought is a climatic phenomenon that occurs due to insufficient precipitation in a region; its occurrence leads to water stress in plants, which is a multidimensional phenomenon and is related not only to the insufficiency of water in the soil, but also in the atmosphere [3]. Some species, and even some genotypes within the same species, may develop different levels of susceptibility to water stress caused by drought. ...
Coffee is one of the world most traded agricultural commodities. Currently, a lot of attention has been on Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner) because it seems to evidence a greater tolerance to extreme climatic events than Arabica coffee (C. arabica L.). Despite this, only a few works have been developed aimed at discriminating the climatic vulnerability in regions which prioritize robust coffee production. The aim of this work was to ana-lyze historical climatic variables in space and time for the characterization of climatic vulnerability of micro-regions, in search of mitigation and adapta-tion, which might support the improvement of production systems of C. ca-nephora coffee trees. The case study was carried out for one of the largest production regions of Robusta coffee of the world, in Brazil, geographically located between the 39˚38' and 41˚50' West longitude meridians and the 17˚52' and 21˚19' South latitude parallels. The vulnerability was characterized by the spatial and temporal variation of rainfall and rainfall seasonal pattern (based on 30 years of historical data), elements of climatic water balance, ele-vation and area planted with Robusta coffee. The choice of mitigation and adaptation were based on widely validated criteria. Overall, the results show that the vulnerability of Robusta coffee is related to low index of rainfall, the rainfall seasonability and the water deficiency. In the studied region, there is approximately 42% of some type of water vulnerability during the year, with a severe to medium scale; this vulnerability is very pronounced in regions farther away from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, since for a year approx-imately 92% of them are water deficient. In addition, the data show that this distance from the ocean implies a reduction of 75% in the phases of water surplus not only. The strategies of greater potential for adaptation and miti-gation are related to the planting of improved genotypes, utilization of poly-cultures systems, increasing plant density, the implementation of irrigation systems and the management of spontaneous plants.
The rapidly growing global demand for coffee has fueled proportionate production. However, a comprehensive and consistent understanding of the associated environmental assessment (EIA) across the production-to-consumption value chain is lacking. Despite using EIA tools like life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental footprint (EF), achieving a unified understanding of coffee's environmental impact throughout this chain remains challenging. We aimed to survey the literature on coffee LCA at length and EF briefly to map coverage areas and analyze thematic trends. We analyzed thematic trends in coffee LCA research. Moreover, we identified five critical groups listed in order of significance: by-products, LCA and broad coffee sustainability matters, coffee and its environmental impacts, waste management, and biochar. Our analysis revealed a shift from traditional environmental assessment of cultivation processes and waste management toward using coffee by-products in refinery research, developing new materials, and biomedical and pharmaceutical functions. We also found that the extant literature has not converged on a standard in both method and scope, resulting in inconsistencies in reporting coffee LCA application settings. The review results contribute by describing and organizing the LCA research status, identifying literature gaps, and guiding progress toward transparent modeling at a global level. This study highlights the need for standardized methodologies and reporting practices in coffee LCA research to improve consistency and comparability.
Sustainable Cocoa production practices should be investigated comprehensively to address sustainability requirements and mitigate Cocoa production issues in Indonesia. This study aims to identify the sustainable Cocoa production system considering the environmental, economic, and social impacts. Life cycle framework and multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) were integrated to obtain the study's objectives by comparing Cocoa monocropping system (CM) and Cocoa intercropping systems (IC). The result indicated that in the environmental sustainability aspect, the monocropping system (CM) showed higher performance as indicated by the lower environmental impact in all indicators; for example, CM emitted a lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) that has a lower margin of 34.5–55.9 % compared to the intercropping system (IC-I and IC-II). In the economic aspect, both on the short-term and long-term analysis, the Cocoa intercropping system (IC-II) generated higher value-added and economic feasibility, with a higher profit margin of 150–205 % compared to CM and IC-1. Along with the increase of economic benefits in IC II, this system also significantly provides social benefits, as presented by the higher social index margin of 4.9–23.7 % compared to other systems. Furthermore, by applying decision-making analysis, the result determines the highest index on the Cocoa intercropping system II (IC-II). These findings highlight that applying the intercropping system II is recommended to overcome the cocoa issue at the farmer and decision-maker levels. Additionally, the proposed method that combined LCA-MCDM can be applied to another agricultural commodity to achieve sustainable agriculture production.
En este estudio se utilizó el software Cropwat 8.0, con el fin de evaluar la huella hídrica del café en la estación experimental Pueblo Bello en el departamento del Cesar, el cual se ve reflejado en la sostenibilidad Ambiental, social y económica de la huella hídrica. Esta metodología se basó en el manual de huella hídrica propuesto por Hoekstra et al, en donde para calcular la huella hídrica se tomó como referencia los datos climáticos para los años 2017 y 2018, los cuales sirvieron para calcular la huella hídrica verde y el Agua Virtual. Finalmente, los resultados mostraron que la huella hídrica en el 2017 fue 84,24 m3/año y para el 2018 fue 86,58 m3/año, lo cual demuestra que el consumo de agua en la estación experimental para estos años fue bajo, ya que para producir 1 Kg de café se requirió aproximadamente 0,3 litros de agua.
Crop sustainability can be threatened by new environmental challenges regarding predicted climate changes and global warming. Therefore, the study of real biological impacts of future environmental conditions (e.g., increased air [CO2], supra-optimal temperature and water scarcity) on crop plants, as well as the re-evaluation of management procedures and strategies, must be undertaken in order to improve crop adaptation and promote mitigation of negative environmental impacts, thus affording crop resilience. Coffee is a tropical crop that is grown in more than 80 countries, making it one
of the world’s most traded agricultural products, while involving millions of people worldwide in the whole chain of value. It has been argued that this crop will be highly affected by climate changes, resulting in decreases in both suitable areas for cultivation and productivity, as well as impaired beverage quality in the near future. Here, we report recent findings regarding coffee species exposure to combined supra-optimal air temperatures and enhanced air [CO2], and impacts of drought stress on the crop. Ultimately, we discuss key strategies to improve coffee performance in the context of new environmental scenarios. The recent findings clearly show that high [CO2] has a positive impact on coffee plants, increasing their tolerance to high temperatures. This has been related to a better plant vigor, to the triggering of protective mechanisms, and to a higher functional status of the photosynthetic machinery. Even so, coffee plant is expected to suffer from water scarcity in a changing world. Therefore, discussion is focused on some important management strategies (e.g., shade systems, crop management and soil covering and terracing), which can be implemented to improve coffee performance and sustain coffee production in a continually changing environment.
Climate Resilient Agriculture - Strategies and Perspectives
Climate changes, mostly related to high temperature, are predicted to have major negative impacts on coffee crop yield and bean quality. Recent studies revealed that elevated air [CO2] mitigates the impact of heat on leaf physiology. However, the extent of the interaction between elevated air [CO2] and heat on coffee bean quality was never addressed. In this study, the single and combined impacts of enhanced [CO2] and temperature in beans of Coffea arabica cv. Icatu were evaluated. Plants were grown at 380 or 700 μL CO2 L⁻¹ air, and then submitted to a gradual temperature rise from 25°C up to 40°C during ca. 4 months. Fruits were harvested at 25°C, and in the ranges of 30–35 or 36–40°C, and bean physical and chemical attributes with potential implications on quality were then examined. These included: color, phenolic content, soluble solids, chlorogenic, caffeic and p-coumaric acids, caffeine, trigonelline, lipids, and minerals. Most of these parameters were mainly affected by temperature (although without a strong negative impact on bean quality), and only marginally, if at all, by elevated [CO2]. However, the [CO2] vs. temperature interaction strongly attenuated some of the negative impacts promoted by heat (e.g., total chlorogenic acids), thus maintaining the bean characteristics closer to those obtained under adequate temperature conditions (e.g., soluble solids, caffeic and p-coumaric acids, trigonelline, chroma, Hue angle, and color index), and increasing desirable features (acidity). Fatty acid and mineral pools remained quite stable, with only few modifications due to elevated air [CO2] (e.g., phosphorous) and/or heat. In conclusion, exposure to high temperature in the last stages of fruit maturation did not strongly depreciate bean quality, under the conditions of unrestricted water supply and moderate irradiance. Furthermore, the superimposition of elevated air [CO2] contributed to preserve bean quality by modifying and mitigating the heat impact on physical and chemical traits of coffee beans, which is clearly relevant in a context of predicted climate change and global warming scenarios.
Modeling studies have predicted that coffee crop will be endangered by future global warming, but recent reports highlighted that high [CO2] can mitigate heat impacts on coffee. This work aimed at identifying heat protective mechanisms promoted by CO2 in Coffea arabica (cv. Icatu and IPR108) and Coffea canephora cv. Conilon CL153. Plants were grown at 25/20°C (day/night), under 380 or 700 μL CO2 L⁻¹, and then gradually submitted to 31/25, 37/30, and 42/34°C. Relevant heat tolerance up to 37/30°C for both [CO2] and all coffee genotypes was observed, likely supported by the maintenance or increase of the pools of several protective molecules (neoxanthin, lutein, carotenes, α-tocopherol, HSP70, raffinose), activities of antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), catalase (CAT), and the upregulated expression of some genes (ELIP, Chaperonin 20). However, at 42/34°C a tolerance threshold was reached, mostly in the 380-plants and Icatu. Adjustments in raffinose, lutein, β-carotene, α-tocopherol and HSP70 pools, and the upregulated expression of genes related to protective (ELIPS, HSP70, Chape 20, and 60) and antioxidant (CAT, CuSOD2, APX Cyt, APX Chl) proteins were largely driven by temperature. However, enhanced [CO2] maintained higher activities of GR (Icatu) and CAT (Icatu and IPR108), kept (or even increased) the Cu,Zn-SOD, APX, and CAT activities, and promoted a greater upregulation of those enzyme genes, as well as those related to HSP70, ELIPs, Chaperonins in CL153, and Icatu. These changes likely favored the maintenance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) at controlled levels and contributed to mitigate of photosystem II photoinhibition at the highest temperature. Overall, our results highlighted the important role of enhanced [CO2] on the coffee crop acclimation and sustainability under predicted future global warming scenarios.
There is an increasing need to mitigate and adapt the agriculture to climate changes with strategies that synergistically allow minimizing the climate impact over the coffee production and contributing to a decrease of coffee cultivation vulnerability to global warming. In this context, the objective of this study was to analyse the carbon balance in systems of coffee production, which can contribute to information to mitigate climate change, by addressing the cultivation and production of Coffea spp. in the tropical regions, such as the Espírito Santo state of the case study (between the meridians 39°38' and 41°50' of western longitude and the parallels 17°52' and 21°19' of southern latitude). For this purpose, data of coffee plantations area (ha), carbon storage, carbon footprint and carbon balance (all in t CO2-equivalent) were recorded for different tropical regions, from 2001–2012. The estimated parameters indicate that 2 239 476 t CO2-eq were sequestrated (positive balance) and 10 320 223 t CO2-eq (negative balance) were emitted. The spatialisation allows estimating that the footprint is reduced in 92% after quantifying the carbon stock in coffee plantations. The carbon balance was negative, with magnitude of 4 815 820 t CO2-eq, which indicates that the carbon balance in coffee plantations in tropical regions is not enough to compensate the carbon footprint. © 2015, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences. All rights reserved.
Coffee (Coffea spp.), a globally traded commodity, is a slow-growing tropical tree species that displays an improved photosynthetic performance
when grown under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations ([CO2]). To investigate the mechanisms underlying this response, two commercial coffee cultivars (Catuaí and Obatã) were grown
using the first free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) facility in Latin America. Measurements were conducted in two contrasting growth seasons, which were characterized
by the high (February) and low (August) sink demand. Elevated [CO2] led to increases in net photosynthetic rates (A) in parallel with decreased photorespiration rates, with no photochemical limitations to A. The stimulation of A by elevated CO2 supply was more prominent in August (56% on average) than in February (40% on average). Overall, the stomatal and mesophyll
conductances, as well as the leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, were unresponsive to the treatments. Photosynthesis
was strongly limited by diffusional constraints, particularly at the stomata level, and this pattern was little, if at all,
affected by elevated [CO2]. Relative to February, starch pools (but not soluble sugars) increased remarkably (>500%) in August, with no detectable
alteration in the maximum carboxylation capacity estimated on a chloroplast [CO2] basis. Upregulation of A by elevated [CO2] took place with no signs of photosynthetic downregulation, even during the period of low sink demand, when acclimation would
be expected to be greatest.
Coffee is highly sensitive to temperature and rainfall, making its cultivation vulnerable to geographic shifts in response to a changing climate. This could lead to the establishment of coffee plantations in new areas and potential conflicts with other land covers including natural forest, with consequent implications for biodiversity and ecosystem services. We project areas suitable for future coffee cultivation based on several climate scenarios and expected responses of the coffee berry borer, a principle pest of coffee crops. We show that the global climatically-suitable area will suffer marked shifts from some current major centres of cultivation. Most areas will be suited to Robusta coffee, demand for which could be met without incurring forest encroachment. The cultivation of Arabica, which represents 70% of consumed coffee, can also be accommodated in the future, but only by incurring some natural forest loss. This has corresponding implications for carbon storage, and is likely to affect areas currently designated as priority areas for biodiversity. Where Arabica coffee does encroach on natural forests, we project average local losses of 35% of threatened vertebrate species. The interaction of climate and coffee berry borer greatly influences projected outcomes.
Coffee is the world’s most valuable tropical export crop. Recent studies predict severe climate change impacts on Coffea arabica (C. arabica) production. However, quantitative production figures are necessary to provide coffee stakeholders and policy makers with evidence to justify immediate action. Using data from the northern Tanzanian highlands, we demonstrate for the first time that increasing night time (Tmin) temperature is the most significant climatic variable responsible for diminishing C. arabica yields between 1961 and 2012. Projecting this forward, every 1 °C rise in Tmin will result in annual yield losses of 137 ± 16.87 kg ha−1 (P = 1.80e-10). According to our ARIMA model, average coffee production will drop to 145 ± 41 kg ha−1 (P = 8.45e-09) by 2060. Consequently, without adequate adaptation strategies and/or substantial external inputs, coffee production will be severely reduced in the Tanzanian highlands in the near future. Attention should also be drawn to the arabica growing regions of Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ethiopia and Kenya, as substantiated time series evidence shows these areas have followed strikingly similar minimum temperature trends. This is the first study on coffee, globally, providing essential time series evidence that climate change has already had a negative impact on C. arabica yields.
Arabica coffees (60 % of current world coffee production) are generally sold at considerably better prices than robustas on account of superior beverage quality. However, costs of production are much higher, mainly due to more stringent demands for soil and climatic conditions, crop management, primary processing and control of several pests and diseases including the potentially very destructive coffee leaf rust (CLR) and berry disease (CBD). Breeding for disease resistance in combination with vigour, productivity and quality started in the early 1920s in India, but especially in the second half of the 20th century comprehensive breeding programmes have been implemented in several other coffee producing countries. Many of the resulting CLR- and CBD + CLR-resistant cultivars (true-breeding lines and F1 hybrids) meet the required standards of profitable and sustainable crop production. Challenges of more recent date include limited access to additional genetic resources of Coffea arabica, breakdown of host resistance to CLR, aggravating insect pest problems and the increasingly negative impact of climate change on arabica coffee production worldwide. This review discusses prospects of breeding and disseminating next generation (hybrid) cultivars of arabica coffee for sustainable coffee production under changing conditions of diseases, pests and climate. International networking on coffee breeding will facilitate sharing of resources (financial, genetic) and scientific information, application of genomics-assisted selection technologies, and pre-breeding for specific characters. Breeding and multiplication of new cultivars well adapted to the local environment will continue to be carried out at national or regional levels. A tree crop like arabica coffee does not lend itself to centralized variety development and dissemination on a global scale.
Coffee has proven to be highly sensitive to climate change. Because coffee plantations have a lifespan of about thirty years, the likely effects of future climates are already a concern. Forward-looking research on adaptation is therefore in high demand across the entire supply chain. In this paper we seek to project current and future climate suitability for coffee production (Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora) on a global scale. We used machine learning algorithms to derive functions of climatic suitability from a database of geo-referenced production locations. Use of several parameter combinations enhances the robustness of our analysis. The resulting multi-model ensemble suggests that higher temperatures may reduce yields of C. arabica, while C. canephora could suffer from increasing variability of intra-seasonal temperatures. Climate change will reduce the global area suitable for coffee by about 50 % across emission scenarios. Impacts are highest at low latitudes and low altitudes. Impacts at higher altitudes and higher latitudes are still negative but less pronounced. The world’s dominant production regions in Brazil and Vietnam may experience substantial reductions in area available for coffee. Some regions in East Africa and Asia may become more suitable, but these are partially in forested areas, which could pose a challenge to mitigation efforts.
Modelling studies predicted that climate change will have strong impacts on the coffee crop, although no information on the effective impact of elevated CO 2 on this plant exists. Here, we aim at providing a first glimpse on the effect of the combined impact of enhanced [CO 2 ] and high temperature on the leaf mineral content and balance on this important tropical crop. Potted plants from two genotypes of Coffea arabica (cv. Icatu and IPR 108) and one from C. canephora (cv. Conilon Clone 153) were grown under 380 or 700 μL CO 2 L −1 air, for 1 year, after which were exposed to an stepwise increase in temperature from 25/20 °C (day/night) up to 42/34 °C, over 8 weeks. Leaf macro−(N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S) and micronutrients (B, Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) concentrations were analyzed at 25/20 °C (control), 31/25 °C, 37/30 °C and 42/34 °C. At the control temperature, the 700 μL L −1 grown plants showed a moderate dilution effect (between 7 % and 25 %) in CL 153 (for N, Mg, Ca, Fe) and Icatu (for N, K and Fe), but not in IPR 108 (except for Fe) when compared to the 380 μL L −1 plants. For temperatures higher than control most nutrients tended to increase, frequently presenting maximal contents at 42/34 °C (or 37/30 °C), although the relation between [CO 2 ] treatments did not appreciably change. Such increases offset the few dilution effects observed under high growth [CO 2 ] at 25/20 °C. No clear species responses were found considering [CO 2 ] and temperature impacts, although IPR 108 seemed less sensitive to [CO 2 ]. Despite the changes promoted by [CO 2 ] and heat, the large majority of mineral ratios were Climatic Change kept within a range considered adequate, suggesting that this plant can maintain mineral balances in a context of climate changes and global warming. Abbreviations A max Photosynthetic capacity P n Net photosynthetic rate PSII Photosystem II RuBisCO Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase WUE Water use efficiency.
Coffee is the second most traded commodity in the world after oil. A sustainable coffee industry is crucial to maintaining global agriculture, trade, human and environmental well-being, and livelihoods. With increasing water scarcity and a changing climate, understanding and quantifying the risks associated with water, a primary input in coffee production, is vital. This methodological paper examines the means of quantifying: (a) 'current' consumptive water use (CWU) of green coffee (coffee beans at harvest time) globally; (b) coffee 'hot spots' and 'bright spots' with respect to levels of CWU, yields and water stress; and (c) possible impacts of climate change on the CWU of coffee. The methodology employs satellite-derived monthly evapotranspiration data and climate projections from two global circulation models for three future scenarios. Initial estimates suggest that currently (on average) 18.9 m3/kg of water is consumed in producing one unit of green coffee. The same estimate for irrigated coffee is 8.6 m3/kg, while that for rain fed coffee is 19.6 m3/kg. Climate scenarios show that effective mean annual rainfall in many major coffee areas may decrease by the 2050s. The generic methodology presented here may be applied to other crops, too, if crop data are available.
The Brazilian coffee planting presents a great importance in the creation of job opportunities, resources, and exchange value, being very diversified, with local particularities. The Brazilian Savannah covers more than 200 million ha, distributed along the States of Minas Gerais, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Tocantins, Bahia, Piauí, Maranhão, and Distrito Federal, and has reached a yield of more than 5 million bags per year, mainly for Coffea arabica L. The coffee growing, in that region, stands out for presenting yield above the national average and for using, in a more efficient way, agricultural inputs, irrigation, improved varieties, and mechanization, among other practices. The irrigated coffee crop, in Brazil, covers 240,000 ha, most of these in the Brazilian Savannah, representing 10% of the total planted area and 25% of the total coffee yield. The most used irrigation systems are the sprinkler ones (conventional, net sprinkler, and center pivot) and the located ones (dripping and modified). Its climate favours coffee quality, as it allows harvesting under low air humidity conditions, since rainfall is concentrated in the summer. It is also observed, in the Brazilian Savannah areas, higher insolation rates, mainly in the autumn and winter months, favorable to yield and quality. The most planted varieties are the Catuaí and Mundo Novo ones, along with other promising drought and diseases resistant materials.
GENES is a software package used for data analysis and processing with different biometric models and is essential in genetic studies applied to plant and animal breeding. It allows parameter estimation to analyze biological phenomena and is fundamental for the decision-making process and predictions of success and viability of selection strategies. The program can be downloaded from the Internet (http://www.ufv.br/dbg/genes/genes.htm or http://www.ufv.br/dbg/biodata.htm) and is available in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Specific literature (http://www.livraria.ufv.br/) and a set of sample files are also provided, making GENES easy to use. The software is integrated into the programs MS Word, MS Excel and Paint, ensuring simplicity and effectiveness in data import and export of results, figures and data. It is also compatible with the free software R and Matlab, through the supply of useful scripts available for complementary analyses in different areas, including genome wide selection, prediction of breeding values and use of neural networks in genetic improvement.
Coffee is one of the world's most traded agricultural products. Modeling studies have predicted that climate change will have a strong impact on the suitability of current cultivation areas, but these studies have not anticipated possible mitigating effects of the elevated atmospheric [CO2] because no information exists for the coffee plant. Potted plants from two genotypes of Coffea arabica and one of C. canephora were grown under controlled conditions of irradiance (800 μmol m(-2) s(-1)), RH (75%) and 380 or 700 μL CO2 L(-1) for 1 year, without water, nutrient or root development restrictions. In all genotypes, the high [CO2] treatment promoted opposite trends for stomatal density and size, which decreased and increased, respectively. Regardless of the genotype or the growth [CO2], the net rate of CO2 assimilation increased (34-49%) when measured at 700 than at 380 μL CO2 L(-1). This result, together with the almost unchanged stomatal conductance, led to an instantaneous water use efficiency increase. The results also showed a reinforcement of photosynthetic (and respiratory) components, namely thylakoid electron transport and the activities of RuBisCo, ribulose 5-phosphate kinase, malate dehydrogenase and pyruvate kinase, what may have contributed to the enhancements in the maximum rates of electron transport, carboxylation and photosynthetic capacity under elevated [CO2], although these responses were genotype dependent. The photosystem II efficiency, energy driven to photochemical events, non-structural carbohydrates, photosynthetic pigment and membrane permeability did not respond to [CO2] supply. Some alterations in total fatty acid content and the unsaturation level of the chloroplast membranes were noted but, apparently, did not affect photosynthetic functioning. Despite some differences among the genotypes, no clear species-dependent responses to elevated [CO2] were observed. Overall, as no apparent sign of photosynthetic down-regulation was found, our data suggest that Coffea spp. plants may successfully cope with high [CO2] under the present experimental conditions.
There are worldwide approximately 4.3 million coffee (Coffea arabica) producing smallholders generating a large share of tropical developing countries’ gross domestic product, notably in Central America. Their livelihoods and coffee production are facing major challenges due to projected climate change, requiring adaptation decisions that may range from changes in management practices to changes in crops or migration. Since management practices such as shade use and reforestation influence both climate vulnerability and carbon stocks in coffee, there may be synergies between climate change adaptation and mitigation that could make it advantageous to jointly pursue both objectives. In some cases, carbon accounting for mitigation actions might even be used to incentivize and subsidize adaptation actions. To assess potential synergies between climate change mitigation and adaptation in smallholder coffee production systems, we quantified (i) the potential of changes in coffee production and processing practices as well as other livelihood activities to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions, (ii) coffee farmers’ climate change vulnerability and need for adaptation, including the possibility of carbon markets subsidizing adaptation. We worked with smallholder organic coffee farmers in Northern Nicaragua, using workshops, interviews, farm visits and the Cool Farm Tool software to calculate greenhouse gas balances of coffee farms. From the 12 activities found to be relevant for adaptation, two showed strong and five showed modest synergies with mitigation. Afforestation of degraded areas with coffee agroforestry systems and boundary tree plantings resulted in the highest synergies between adaptation and mitigation. Financing possibilities for joint adaptation-mitigation activities could arise through carbon offsetting, carbon insetting, and carbon footprint reductions. Non-monetary benefits such as technical assistance and capacity building could be effective in promoting such synergies at low transaction costs.
The water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption of people. The water footprint of a country is
defined as the volume of water needed for the production of the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the country.
The internal water footprint is the volume of water used from domestic water resources; the external water footprint is the
volume of water used in other countries to produce goods and services imported and consumed by the inhabitants of the country.
The study calculates the water footprint for each nation of the world for the period 1997–2001. The USA appears to have an
average water footprint of 2480m3/cap/yr, while China has an average footprint of 700m3/cap/yr. The global average water footprint is 1240m3/cap/yr. The four major direct factors determining the water footprint of a country are: volume of consumption (related to
the gross national income); consumption pattern (e.g. high versus low meat consumption); climate (growth conditions); and
agricultural practice (water use efficiency).
The importance of agroforestry systems as carbon sinks has recently been recognized due to the need of climate change mitigation. The objective of this study was to compare the carbon content in living biomass, soil (0–10, 10–20, 20–30 cm in depth), dead organic matter between a set of non-agroforestry and agroforestry prototypes in Chiapas, Mexico where the carbon sequestration programme called Scolel’te has been carried out. The prototypes compared were: traditional maize (rotational prototype with pioneer native trees evaluated in the crop period), Taungya (maize with timber trees), improved fallow, traditional fallow (the last three rotational prototypes in the crop-free period), Inga-shade-organic coffee, polyculture-shade organic coffee, polyculture-non-organic coffee, pasture without trees, pasture with live fences, and pasture with scattered trees. Taungya and improved fallow were designed agroforestry prototypes, while the others were reproduced traditional systems. Seventy-nine plots were selected in three agro-climatic zones. Carbon in living biomass, dead biomass, and soil organic matter was measured in each plot. Results showed that carbon in living biomass and dead organic matter were different according to prototype; while soil organic carbon and total carbon were influenced mostly by the agro-climatic zone (P
The tropical coffee crop has been predicted to be threatened by future climate changes and global warming. However, the real biological effects of such changes remain unknown. Therefore, this work aims to link the physiological and biochemical responses of photosynthesis to elevated air [CO2 ] and temperature in cultivated genotypes of Coffea arabica L. (cv. Icatu and IPR108) and C. canephora cv. Conilon CL153. Plants were grown for 1 year at 25/20ºC (day/night) and 380 or 700 μL CO2 L(-1) , then subjected to temperature increase (0.5ºC/day) to 42/34ºC. Leaf impacts related to stomatal traits, gas exchanges, C-isotope composition, fluorescence parameters, thylakoid electron transport and enzyme activities were assessed at 25/20ºC, 31/25ºC, 37/30ºC and 42/34ºC. The results showed that 1) both species were remarkably heat tolerant up to 37/30ºC, but at 42/34ºC a threshold for irreversible non-stomatal deleterious effects was reached. Impairments were greater in C. arabica (especially in Icatu) and under normal [CO2 ]. Photosystems and thylakoid electron transport were shown to be quite heat tolerant, contrasting to the enzymes related to energy metabolism, including RuBisCO, which were the most sensitive components. 2) Significant stomatal trait modifications were promoted almost exclusively by temperature and were species dependent. Elevated [CO2 ] 3) strongly mitigated the impact of temperature on both species, particularly at 42/34ºC, modifying the response to supra-optimal temperatures, 4) promoted higher water use efficiency under moderately higher temperature (31/25 ºC), and 5) did not provoke photosynthetic down-regulation. Instead, enhancements in [CO2 ] strengthened photosynthetic photochemical efficiency, energy use and biochemical functioning at all temperatures.. Our novel findings demonstrate a relevant heat resilience of coffee species and that elevated [CO2 ] remarkably mitigated the impact of heat on coffee physiology, therefore playing a key role in this crop sustainability under future climate change scenarios. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Agriculture is one of the most important sectors influencing climate change because it can act as net source of greenhouse gases (GHG) or it is able to mitigate global warming. Production systems with woody perennial species, such as coffee (Coffea arabica L.) plantations, have shown to mitigate global warming because of their ability to sequester carbon (C) in biomass and soil. In this study, the C footprint of coffee production systems in Líbano, Colombia was assessed by evaluating coffee plantations in monoculture, in agroforestry systems (AFS) with Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pavón) Oken, and in AFS with plantain (Musa sp. var AAB). Carbon sequestration varied between 2.7 and 19.9 tCO2/ha/y for monoculture and AFS with C. alliodora, respectively. All coffee production systems emitted GHG at a rate of 1.4 to 3.5 Mg CO2e/ha/y; whereas coffee bean processing emitted 7.1 kg CO2e/kg. Only the agroforestry system with C. alliodora had a positive C footprint, showing a net sequestration of 14.2 Mg CO2e/ha/y in comparison to the AFS with plantain (-2.9 Mg CO2e/ha/y) and the coffee monoculture (-5.7 Mg CO2e/ha/y). The inclusion of timber trees, such as C. alliodora, in coffee production systems can change a coffee plantation from a C emitter to one of C sequestration. Results from our study suggested that AFS coffee production systems play an important role in mitigating global warming. This provides an incentive not only for coffee producers, but also for the development of policies to adapt AFS for coffee production because they can play an important ecological service in tropical biomes.
Coffee production is impacting the climate by emitting greenhouse gasses. Coffee production is also vulnerable to climate change. As a consequence, the coffee sector is interested in climate-friendly forms of coffee production, but there is no consensus of what exactly this implies. Therefore, we studied two aspects of the climate impact of coffee production: the standing carbon stocks in the production systems and the product carbon footprint, which measures the greenhouse gas emissions per unit weight of coffee produced. We collected data from 116 coffee farms in five Latin American countries, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Colombia, for four coffee production systems: (1) traditional polycultures, (2) commercial polycultures, (3) shaded monocultures, and (4) unshaded monocultures. We found that polycultures have a lower mean carbon footprint, of 6.2-7.3 kg CO2-equivalent kg(-1) of parchment coffee, than monocultures, of 9.0-10.8 kg. We also found that traditional polycultures have much higher carbon stocks in the vegetation, of 42.5 Mg per ha, than unshaded monocultures, of 10.5 Mg. We designed a graphic system to classify production systems according to their climate friendliness. We identified several strategies to increase positive and reduce negative climate impacts of coffee production. Strategies include diversification of coffee farms with trees, the use of their wood to substitute for fossil fuel and energy-intensive building materials, the targeted use of fertilizer, and the use of dry or ecological processing methods for coffee instead of the traditional fully washed process.
Agroforestry represents an opportunity to reduce CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere by increasing carbon (C) stocks in agricultural lands. Agroforestry practices may also promote mineral N fertilization and the use of N-2-fixing legumes that favor the emission of non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHG) (N2O and CH4). The present study evaluates the net GHG balance in two adjacent coffee plantations, both highly fertilized (250 kg N ha(-1) year(-1)): a monoculture (CM) and a culture shaded by the N-2-fixing legume tree species Inga densiflora (CIn). C stocks, soil N2O emissions and CH4 uptakes were measured during the first cycle of both plantations. During a 3-year period (6-9 years after the establishment of the systems), soil C in the upper 10 cm remained constant in the CIn plantation (+0.09 +/- 0.58 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1)) and decreased slightly but not significantly in the CM plantation (-0.43 +/- 0.53 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1)). Above-ground carbon stocks in the coffee monoculture and the agroforestry system amounted to 9.8 +/- 0.4 and 25.2 +/- 0.6 Mg C ha(-1), respectively, at 7 years after establishment. C storage rate in the phytomass was more than twice as large in the CIn compared to the CM system (4.6 +/- 0.1 and 2.0 +/- 0.1 Mg C ha(-1) year(-1), respectively). Annual soil N2O emissions were 1.3 times larger in the CIn than in the CM plantation (5.8 +/- 0.5 and 4.3 +/- 0.3 kg N-N2O ha(-1) year(-1), respectively). The net GHG balance at the soil scale calculated from the changes in soil C stocks and N2O emissions, expressed in CO2 equivalent, was negative in both coffee plantations indicating that the soil was a net source of GHG. Nevertheless this balance was in favor of the agroforestry system. The net GHG balance at the plantation scale, which includes additionally C storage in the phytomass, was positive and about 4 times larger in the CIn (14.59 +/- 2.20 Mg CO2 eq ha(-1) year(-1)) than in the CM plantation (3.83 +/- 1.98 Mg CO2 eq ha(-1) year(-1)). Thus converting the coffee monoculture to the coffee agroforestry plantation shaded by the N-2-fixing tree species I. densiflora would increase net atmospheric GHG removals by 10.76 +/- 2.96 Mg CO2 eq ha(-1) year(-1) during the first cycle of 8-9 years. (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Agriculture and deforestation contribute approximately one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Major sources of emissions in this sector are from loss of soil carbon due to repeated soil disturbance under typical crop cultivation, fossil fuel use in the production of synthetic fertilisers, direct and indirect soil nitrous oxide emissions from fertiliser application, pesticide manufacture and use, and fossil fuel combustion in machinery use (e.g. tractors, irrigation, etc). Although knowledge of emissions sources aids in the determination of potential mitigation strategies (reduced or no-till methods, use of N-fixing leguminous crops in rotations, use of lower emissions fertilisers), there currently exist limited decision support and knowledge transfer tools to enable the farmer or grower to make choices appropriate to existing management practices. In this article we present a model, and open source software tool called the “Cool Farm Tool” integrating several globally determined empirical models in a greenhouse gas calculator. The software, in requiring inputs of which a farmer typically has good knowledge (and no more), has a specific farm-scale, decision-support focus. Due to its use of only readily available farm data, there is considerable scope for its use in global surveys to inform on current practices and potential for mitigation.
A cup of coffee or tea in our hand means manifold consumption of water at the production location. The objective of this study is to assess the global water footprint of the Dutch society in relation to its coffee and tea consumption. The calculation is carried out based on the crop water requirements in the major coffee and tea exporting countries and the water requirements in the subsequent processing steps. In total, the world population requires about 140 billion cubic metres of water per year in order to be able to drink coffee and tea. The standard cup of coffee and tea in the Netherlands costs about 140 l and 34 l of water respectively. The largest portions of these volumes are attributable to growing the plants. The Dutch people account for 2.4% of the world coffee consumption. The total water footprint of Dutch coffee and tea consumption amounts to 2.7 billion cubic metres of water per year (37% of the annual Meuse runoff). The water needed to drink coffee or tea in the Netherlands is not Dutch water. The most important sources for the Dutch coffee are Brazil and Colombia and for the Dutch tea Indonesia, China and Sri Lanka. The major volume of water to grow the coffee plant comes from rainwater. For the overall water need in coffee production, it makes hardly any difference whether the dry or wet production process is applied, because the water used in the wet production process is a very small fraction (0.34%) of the water used to grow the coffee plant. However, the impact of this relatively small amount of water is often significant. First, it is blue water (abstracted from surface and ground water), which is sometimes scarcely available. Second, the wastewater generated in the wet production process is often heavily polluted.
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