Hundreds of thousands of acres of coffee production were wiped out this year by extreme weather and climate-driven blights. Every coffee lover in the world will be paying the price. Coffee futures have surged nearly 90% in 2021, and once cheaper inventories are exhausted, analysts expect retail prices to spike in 2022. Nobody should be surprised.
Humanity consumes a half-trillion cups annually of the caffeinated brew — almost double from a decade ago — yet coffee production is one of the most antiquated industries in all of agriculture. There hasn't been been a major effort to develop a new coffee bean varietal in half a century and we're now witnessing the consequences: a crop that simply can't survive much longer in our changing climate.
