Climatic Factors Affecting Coffee Cultivation In Brazil

Minas Gerais, Brazil

Open plain, blue sky, white clouds, endless coffee trees, this is the Brazilian coffee plantation. It's the world's most productive place for coffee, and it's the largest producing region in Brazil. Apart from the amazing coffee plantations, there are many other fascinating details about Brazil. This article will introduce some small growers to overcome the influence of climate factors, coffee farming and production.

Minas is the center of coffee cultivation and production in Brazil and the largest coffee producing region in the world. The annual production of 25 million to 30 million bales (60 kg/bale) is larger than the entire production of many coffee producing countries (such as Colombia, Indonesia, Ethiopia).

It is difficult to generalize about coffee production in a country with so many coffee farmers and such a large production and geographical area, but there is one factor that can affect the whole Minas, and that is climate conditions, especially with climate change in recent years, which has a more serious impact on coffee production.

A changing market

Legender Specialty Coffee is a new coffee company that sells Brazilian coffee to a wider international market, says Demilson Batista Jr. He's the founder of this company.

To understand the current state of the region, one must first understand the local history. Coffee has always been an important local industry, and Brazil's domestic coffee market is highly developed. Coffee is gathered here from many sources. The system has been shaped for years, so that people are comfortable with the status quo and are not used to new changes.

Coffee farmers in and around Machado, for example, have long grown fine-grade coffee, but little of it has made it into the international fine-coffee market. Brazilian coffee is usually acquired by large traders and shipped to large cities to be mixed with coffee from different regions.

This way you can make good coffee, but at the same time you lose the characteristics of the region. Usually the coffee here is labeled "Brazil Santos." But Sandos is actually the name of the port city from which most coffee is exported, so it's stuck.

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Batista and his parents, Athos Caixeta and Herico Goncalves, have long wanted to pass on the local coffee culture and find a way to export Machado coffee directly. They bought sun-treated Arabica coffee from farmers there, kept the local character intact, and sold it directly to the specialty coffee market. This is the first time that the world can really feel the quality of coffee here.

Suffering is The reward of Suffering

Coffee is typically a cyclical crop, with a good harvest one year and a bad harvest the next, even if it is not affected by climate. Bad bad years are invariably followed by good ones. Nutrients in the planting soil are absorbed by the roots of the coffee plant and then supplied to the growth and development of the fruit. As we all know, every fruit needs to get enough nutrients through its trunk. If a tree goes through a disaster and doesn't produce enough fruit, the stored nutrients are "food" for the next year's growth.

To learn more about Brazilian production, we drove to Araxa, a six-hour drive from Machado, to visit Warley Carlos de Oliverira, the coffee quality expert at the Fazenda Barinas estate.

The name Fazenda Barinas is derived from the Venezuelan language, and as a result, the estate is called the "Chateau de la Wind". Barinas is a little higher, and the winds are good for drying the coffee.

Fazenda Barinas followed a method of drying similar to those found in other parts of Brazil, in which they dried the beans ina doubling/doubling manner every interval:

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After harvesting the coffee, remove floating unripe fruit. Spread the coffee flat on the drying ground (about 14-20 liters/square meter). Space is not an issue at the Barinas estate, where there is plenty of space and no need for mechanical dryers. Two days later, lay another layer (about 40 liters/square meter) on top of the dried coffee. Two days later, it is stacked again, this time at 80 liters per square meter. At this point, most of the water in the coffee has been lost, and only about 20 percent remains. All day long, the coffee is churned, piled and covered with a tarp. In this way, a stable moisture is retained and balanced with the ambient air humidity without excessive dehydration. Pull up the tarp and roll it out again.

This process ensures that all beans are equally dry. Oliveria tells us that Barinas also suffered a severe drought last year, but had a bumper harvest in 2016. Oliveria, who has traveled all over Brazil as part of the cup evaluation committee, has noticed a general improvement in the quality of the beans already harvested this year (1.5 to 2 points higher in cup scores) and a significant increase in production.

References Post: What Is Macchiato? | Hebergement Web

Heat and sun exposure are the problems faced by many coffee farmers in Minas during severe droughts like the 14-15 season. But high temperatures and strong winds also make the coffee dry more evenly. Should you choose Machado, which focuses on unique flavor and quality, or Fazenda Barinas, which focuses on processing? These are questions for farmers and exporters.

For coffee farmers, every year brings new challenges and adventures. Fortunately, through many hardships, the amount of high-quality coffee available in Minas has increased, and farmers are aware of the effects of climate and other factors on coffee production. We believe that in the future, Brazil, the "giant of Arabica coffee", will be even stronger and more powerful.

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