Could this WA research make your morning cup of coffee cheaper?
At a time when the average price of a flat white in Perth has soared to $6.50, a team of Edith Cowan University researchers has good news for caffeine addicts, thanks to a new way to target a pest whose coffee-loving habits helps to drive up the price of beans.
The breakthrough could mean fewer coffee crops lost to infection and greater global supply of high-quality coffee beans — which should translate to lower prices.
The coffee berry borer has been known to cause $1 billion worth of damage to global coffee crops in just one year.
Unlike the similarly-named shot-hole borer, which has devastated Perth trees lately, the coffee berry borer can be relatively easily treated.
ECU researcher David Cook said the team had developed a new way to identify the coffee berry borer that could see cheap drones equipped with the ability to identify infestations.
“The coffee berry borer is close to microscopic and most coffee grows in developing countries . . . there’s not a huge level of scrutiny when it comes to looking for microscopic things so, in some cases, entire crops collapse when you get a borer infestation,” Dr Cook said.
“Instead of looking for the coffee berry borer itself, we looked for what it did.
“If you imagine when you drill into a piece of wood you see little bits of sawdust gather around the outside of the hole. In the same way, when a borer bores into a coffee berry, they leave an enormous amount of debris, called frass and this is much easier to identify.
“The problem with the coffee berry borer is if it’s not recognised, it spreads through the various berries from bunch to bunch then bush to bush, and it can destroy an entire crop.
“This (technology) allows farmers to make very quick decisions about which parts of a crop might be infested with this particular pathogen and begin treating immediately.”
Coffee drinkers and cafes are feeling the sting of rising prices.
According to the La Marzocco Australia’s future of coffee report, the average price of a cup of coffee has risen 37.5 per cent from pre-pandemic levels, with the cost of a flat white hitting $6.50 in Perth and Sydney and $6 in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.
Prices are being pushed higher by a range of factors, from climate change and global supply chain disruptions to the rising cost of power, rent and staff.
Dr Cook said the research could also be a shot in the arm to Australia’s niche coffee industry, opening the door to growing the cash crop in places like WA’s Kimberley region by making it more financially sustainable.
ECU’s Leisa Armstrong, who co-authored the research paper with Dr Cook and Masters student Chris Napier, said there could be economic benefit for farmers and consumers.
“If there is more high-quality coffee, then from an economics perspective that should mean coffee isn’t quite so expensive,” she said.
“I’m not sure it’s going to drop the price, but it might prevent it from going up dramatically if there is a coffee shortage.”
Mr Napier, who developed the software that uses coloured lattice squares to search for infection, said it could potentially be adapted to other agricultural crops, like grapes.
