Recent paid articles New York Times (NYT) titled “Coffee price is 50 years. Producers are not celebrating. This is not what is in the data. [emphasis, links added]
Coffee production data show that over time, data on coffee production have grown steadily, although and possibly partly attributed to carbon dioxide (CO2), and a slight warming in recent decades.
Honduras, Brazil and Vietnam are the main regions mentioned in the New York Times. The New York Times claimed that the cost of producing coffee has increased due to a number of factors, including the cost of increasing fertilizer and “untimely rainfall and fluctuating temperatures”, which makes it difficult to make a profit even if the coffee price is higher than usual.
NYT insists that coffee farmers worry that climate change is the main culprit of higher coffee costs, “this reduces global coffee supply through rising temperatures, drought and excessive rainfall – more recently in Brazil and Vietnam, two of the world’s largest coffee producers.”
If modest warming over the past century is the real driver of coffee production difficulties, it should show a trend as existing coffee production data.
However, from the world's coffee production, it seems that other factors must be more serious about coffee prices.
Since 1990, 35 years ago, data from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed:
- World coffee production increased by 82%;
- World coffee production increased by 67%;
- World record yields and yields occurred in 2020. (See the picture below)
Focusing on specific regions covered by NYT also showed no decline trend.
In Brazil, FAO data showed that coffee production increased by 132% between 1990 and 2023, with 2023 being the third highest production year on record. In Vietnam, coffee production soared by an alarming rate of 2,026% over the same time frame. (Please refer to the picture below)
NYT wrote that in Honduras, climate change has caused “destruction” on coffee plantations, where “[r]Ising temperature is pressure on plants and yields are reduced. ”
FAO data shows that Honduras has been emitting seasonal fluctuations in coffee production, with yields increasing despite slightly lower output in the past few years and a decline in previous record highs.
Overall, between 1990 and 2023 Honduras has increased coffee production by 220% and production by 45%. The most recent record-breaking season was 2018. (See the picture below)
False claims about the coffee crisis caused by climate change are nothing new. Climate Realism Over the past few years, media attempts have inspired fears about coffee production and climate change.
Every time, the news media hype low-income seasons in a particular part of the world while ignoring positive trends in the same country in the previous seasons, especially in the rest of the world.
This seasonal alert for myopia clearly shows that many mainstream media media do not know (or ignore) the fact that crop production always changes annually, producing high and low years of production, subject to seasonal weather conditions, economics, and other factors, such as trade policy and other factors, are often outside the control of farmers.
Viewing the long-term trends in production and output tells a true story, not a season of production or output. With coffee, [trends show] Increase output and output, thereby bringing long-term benefits to producers.
this New York Times Publicly available data can be viewed well before hyping up false claims about the coffee crisis caused by climate change.
The New York Times does admit that high fertilizers and shipping costs contribute to problems for coffee growers, which is ironic because climate alarm-driven anti-fossil fuel policies are a large part of limited supply and higher prices.
Other restrictions on the development and use of fossil fuels (required by climate scolding and approved by NYT) will only increase the cost of fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and transporting fuels.
This will make it harder for coffee growers to make a living.
This applies even to non-chemical fertilizers, as oil and gas make up the affordable energy required for transportation and processing technologies.
Similarly, the New York Times report The regulations from Europe “determination to limit deforestation” have targeted coffee producers, which may be as demanded by the same environmentalists, now mistakenly blames climate change on rising coffee prices.
this New York Times Publicly available data can be viewed well before hyping up false claims about the coffee crisis caused by climate change.
If the reporters do this, they will find While annual changes in production are not uncommon, overall, coffee production works well and there is no sign of collapse in the long-term trend.
Read more in Climate Realism
