Puerto Rican grown coffee bushes on the brink of extinction
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
By The Star Staff
Puerto Rican-grown coffee is on the brink of extinction, officials have warned.
Secretary of Agriculture Josué Rivera Castro has disclosed the alarming condition of coffee production, which is now evident—local coffee makes up only 15% of national consumption.
Puerto Rican coffee is renowned, yet it faces a critical threat, he told Magic 97.3’s Primer Round.
For years, the industry has been hindered by a perceived labor shortage, but the reality is far worse: there are hardly any coffee bushes left to harvest.
The aftermath of Hurricane Maria in 2017, which devastated farms and destroyed over 20 million trees, still looms large in conversations about agricultural catastrophe. The response has been inadequate, with only about 150,000 trees planted so far.
With coffee plants taking 2 to 4 years to start yielding and even longer to reach peak production, the timeline for recovery is daunting.
“The issue extends beyond labor shortages. Without trees, coffee production is impossible,” Rivera Castro emphasized.
Imported coffee is cheaper, while local production expenses continue to rise, pushing Puerto Rican coffee closer to extinction. This industry, once thriving, now struggles under the weight of nostalgia, reminiscent of the sugarcane and china industries, in a landscape where influencers outnumber farmers. The time to act is now, or we risk losing a vital part of our agricultural heritage.
In 2022, Puerto Rico faced a dramatic loss of 74% of its coffee farms, with 19 municipalities entirely devoid of active coffee plantations, as highlighted by the Agricultural Census. Current production now stands at a mere 6% of its previous levels, a stark decline from 83% just 20 years ago, according to a report by the UAGM (General Directorate of Agriculture).
The labor shortage is critical: there is an urgent demand for 7,000 pickers, yet local and foreign workers are in short supply. Efforts to recruit foreign labor have been hindered by prohibitive costs and bureaucratic red tape, making it nearly impossible to resolve the issue effectively.
Furthermore, climate change poses a significant threat to coffee production in Puerto Rico. Rising temperatures and altered rainfall patterns risk substantial losses of farmland, jeopardizing the future of this vital industry on the island.