Colombian Leaf Rust Resistant Coffee

By: www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org

The story of Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee is

inspiring. Leaf rust is a fungal disease that has devastated

coffee plantations as far back as the mid to late 19th

century.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

Those with an interest in history may know that Sri

Lanka (old Ceylon) used to be a coffee producer until the

leaf rust wiped out all production after which the nation switched to growing

tea.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

The coffee leaf rust spread from the East Indies to South

Asia and Africa and eventually to the new world. Today a plague of coffee leaf rust threatens the livelihoods

of coffee growers and workers throughout Central

America.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

Fortunately for the coffee producing nation of

Colombia, the workers at the Cenicafé have found a cure.

Cenicafé is a research organization funded by the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation - the folks who

bring you Juan Valdez coffee.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

In the early 1970’s coffee leaf rust was found in the

Americas. In the early 1980’s Cenicafé started work on

producing a Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee. The

Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee comes in two varieties,

Colombian and Castillo.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

The first is a cross between an old Colombian variety,

Caturra, and a rust-resistant strain from Southeast Asia, the Timor hybrid. Castillo is an offshoot of further cross

breeding of the first Colombian leaf rust resistant

coffee strain.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

Replanting with Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee in Colombia has reduced the incidence of leaf rust from 40% to 5% from 2011 to

2013.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

Avoid, Treating, and Curing Leaf Rust

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

Some time back we wrote about how

leaf rust kills organic coffee crops

. The concern for organic coffee growers is that when the disease has progressed too far there are only two

choices.By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

One is to spray everything sight with fungicides and the other is to dig out all of the

plants, spray, wait, and replant. It is sad that the

move to sun resistant coffee strains and dense planting has tended to make coffee leaf rust more prevalent.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

Warmer temperatures facilitate the growth of leaf rust, and so

does crowding the plants. Growing plants in the shade

inhibits coffee leaf rust because temperatures are lower and because fungi that grow on

coffee plants in the shade tend to inhibit the growth of coffee

leaf rust.By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

A grower who wants to produce

healthy organic coffee can grow his coffee in the shade and he can invest, bit by bit,

in introducing Colombian rust resistant coffee strains, and

others as they become available.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

But, for those growers who are currently hit the worst,

there will typically be a three year wait before new plants

reach maturity and start producing coffee.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

What Is the Gene?

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

What is the gene or what are the combinations of genes

that make the Timor variety from Southeast Asia resistant

to coffee leaf rust? Is it possible to find the gene and

insert it into the chromosomes of high quality

Arabica coffees?

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

This approach would likely result in a cure of the leaf rust problem even more so

than the breeding efforts that have produced Colombian leaf rust resistant coffee

strains.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/

But, will the organic coffee drinking community drink a

coffee that has been genetically modified? This is a question for later times and

later articles.

By: http://buyorganiccoffee.org/869/colombian-leaf-rust-resistant-coffee/