The Weekly Journal - Wednesday, August 3, 2022

8

/ Wednesday, August 3, 2022

This images where taken in a plantation in one of Puerto Rico’s most prominent coffee cultivation sector, the town of Adjuntas.

Coffee industry in critical condition, but there is hope

Improvements have been made and the next harvest could the best in the last five years

A

Juan A. Hernández, The Weekly Journal

lmost five years since the devastation of Hurricane María the status of the coffee industry in Puerto Rico is still critical.

Coffee production on the island has not been able to increase to the same levels as before the storm. Nevertheless, improvements have been made and there are reasons to be optimistic as the next harvest “should be one of the best in the last five years.”

According to coffee growers, brokers and dealers, the problem affecting the industry the most is the lack of people to harvest the berry, particularly in the island’s mountainous region.

Local coffee growers have had to bring coffee pickers from other countries, even though it is very costly, in order not to lose their crops.

“It is a costly endeavor because you have to comply with federal regulations, among other requirements, and provide the space these workers would be needing. Nevertheless, several coffee growers are already doing it,” said Omar Torres, founder of Gustos Coffee Co. The Coffee entrepreneur pointed out the impact this solution has had on the retail price of the coffee. “As the price of 100% Puerto Rican coffee

increases, it becomes so expensive to buy local coffee that not everybody can afford to by 100% Puerto Rican specialty coffee.”

Torres also pointed the final price of coffee is further affected by the increasing prices of fertilizers, gas, electricity, and transportation, among other production costs.

Aside from the most evident atmospheric threats that coffee growers, and farmers in general, must face there are also biological threats: pests.

Other threats

In the case of the coffee industry, the coffee berry borer (broca, in Spanish) is the most serious pest in many of the major coffee-producing countries in the world. But, according to Torres, broca has been greatly controlled thanks to “different prevention measures taken.” Still, there is a risk that the pernicious pest could surge.

“Broca tends propagate faster when the coffee berry drops to the ground because there are no pickers to harvest it,” said Torres. “That is a problem that may very well happen if we are not able to harvest this year’s crop.”

Regarding other pests that could affect the harvest, Torres considers they are under control with the measures suggested by the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture.

But even before Hurricane María, coffee production in Puerto Rico was not enough to supply local demand. So, the government imports coffee. This means that only a small percentage of the coffee grown in Puerto Rico is destined for exportation. According to Torres, less than five percent of the yearly harvest is exported as premium coffee.

Torres considers there is a big difference, in

terms of quality, between the 100% Puerto Rican coffee and the commercial coffee the government imports to cover local demand. But admitted “it is difficult for a person who doesn’t understand the difference between 100% Puerto Rican coffee and regular commercial coffee” to understand the huge price difference.

“The best moment for Puerto Rico, in terms of [coffee] exportation was in the 1890s, when we were the fourth exporter [in the world]. That was the Golden Era of Puerto Rican coffee. If I’m not mistaken, back then some 600,000 quintals were exported every year. Nowadays, we only produce 20,000 quintals. And that is considering all types of coffee –specialty, premium, regular and robusta– ,” said Torres. A quintal (hundredweight) weighs 100 pounds.

Specialty coffee

Coffee grading starts with the “specialty coffee,” which must meet specific requirements set by the specialty coffee associations of the world. They basically require that for every 300 grams of coffee there could only be up to five minor defects on the beans. Also, tasters’ points for this coffee must be above 80.

Torres argued that the harvesting of specialty coffee helps coffee growers improve their business by making it profitable and sustainable, which in turn will guarantee they could use the proper harvest and production techniques.

“The alternative for the future of coffee growing in Puerto Rico is to continue promoting specialty coffee because that would allow us to continue exporting. This would require continued training to the coffee growers, so they use the proper techniques,” said Torres, who emphasized Gustos Coffee specializes in that type of coffee.