Hawaii coffee farmers facing ‘greatest threat’ yet, but efforts underway to tackle devastating fungus

When Tom Greenwell first discovered coffee leaf rust on his family’s 85-acre farm in Kealakekua this spring, he said he was devastated. Since then the fourth-generation coffee farmer said the fungus, which has ravaged many other coffee communities worldwide, has spread, popping up in different fields on Greenwell Farms.

Like other multigenerational coffee farmers, the Greenwell family’s coffee roots run deep. Greenwell’s great-grandfather started the family’s coffee business in 1850, and the Big Island farm still has some of the original coffee plants that his great-grandmother planted in the 1900s.

“Hawaii’s coffee is very special. We have the best coffee in the world. There’s no question,” said Greenwell, president and co-owner of Greenwell Farms. “It’s very important for us to keep this heritage going.”

While many coffee farmers are concerned that coffee leaf rust could devastate Hawaii’s vibrant coffee industry, there are efforts underway to try to tackle it before it’s too late. The stakes are high for the more than 1,400 coffee farms in the state. Several farmers point out that coffee production is a staple in some of Hawaii’s communities, particularly in Kona, where generations of families have built on the town’s coffee legacy.

Although coffee leaf rust was first found in Sri Lanka in 1869, it was only recently discovered in Hawaii. The state Department of Agriculture reported Hawaii’s first cases of coffee leaf rust in October 2020 on Maui and Hawaii island. It was then detected on Oahu and Lanai in January and on Kauai and Molokai in June. It is found in major coffee-growing regions, including Southeast Asia, Africa and Central and South America.

The fungus infects coffee plants and can cause severe defoliation, where leaves drop prematurely. When infected, yellow and orange spots and powder appear on the leaves and then increase in size, making their way up the tree. The fungus also hinders vegetative and berry growth and eventually can kill entire coffee trees. Replacing trees is costly, and there is also a chance that the new ones could be infected with coffee leaf rust.

‘Greatest threat we’ve faced’

According to the state Department of Agriculture, coffee leaf rust can decrease harvests by 30% to 80%. Since 2011 the fungus has devastated Central and South America, affecting crops on 70% of the region’s coffee farms and causing more than $3.2 billion in damage.

Of the more than 1,400 coffee farms in Hawaii, Suzanne Shriner, director of the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council and a second-generation Kona coffee farmer, estimates that more than 90% have been affected by the fungus so far. And that number likely will increase with time, she said.

“This is the greatest threat we’ve faced,” said Shriner, who also serves on the boards of the Hawaii Coffee Association and Kona Coffee Farmers Association. “Left untreated, this would decimate our coffee industry and essentially could be the end of the industry if we don’t move fast to solve the issue.”

While the local coffee industry has dealt with other pests, including the recent coffee berry borer, a small beetle that can reduce the yield and quality of beans, local experts say the rust fungus is the worst pest the industry faces now. They say the fungus poses several challenges, including its ability to spread quickly. Some fungicides used to control it are not approved for use in Hawaii and are expensive. And it requires meticulous maintenance of farms, including regular pruning and weed control, to help reduce a tree’s susceptibility to the rust. Experts say all of these factors require money and resources that many small farmers don’t have.

“I was devastated because I know the problems with rust worldwide. You’ll see rust everywhere. We don’t have any fields that doesn’t have it,” Greenwell said. “There’s not going to be one single answer to this. But things are happening, and I’m very pleased to see that.”

The Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council, a nonprofit representing the Hawaii Coffee Association and two other agriculture groups, was awarded a $6 million federal grant in October to address coffee leaf rust. Funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the four-year grant is a partnership with several universities and research groups, with the council as the project’s lead.

Shriner, president of Lions Gate Farms in Captain Cook and the council’s director, said $6 million is a significant investment, and she is excited for the potential changes it could bring.

Scientists will collect data from farms on how weather affects outbreaks, chemicals that they are using to treat coffee leaf rust, and how soil health and fertilization can help trees be less vulnerable to the fungus. Long-term solutions also will test coffee plants from around the world that have been bred to resist coffee leaf rust. The goal is to determine whether these rust- resistant varieties produce the flavors and high-quality beans needed to meet Hawaii’s coffee standards.

Tyler Jones, director of research at the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, said staff have been working for years to crossbreed local coffee tree varieties with those that are rust-resistant. They plan to send seeds of these varieties to farmers across Hawaii to test how they grow in different environments and whether they have good flavors and are of high quality.

Researchers are also looking into ways that maintenance, such as trimming trees and spraying fungicides, can prevent the spread of coffee leaf rust, Jones said.

“The good news is coffee leaf rust has been around in most, if not all, of the coffee-growing regions in the world. We can build on the investment that those folks have made,” he said. “It takes an investment, not only by farmers, but also by the government. … If we want to save what I think is a unique experience, and that really goes back to the culture of our rural agriculture areas, we need to get (farmers) the help that they need.”

Some farmers, including Greenwell, are also trying to find their own solutions. At Greenwell Farms, he said, they have developed a system where workers immediately spray coffee plants with fungicides after berries are picked.

At Waialua Estate Coffee and Chocolate, agriculture manager Kyle Barber said they haven’t found the fungus yet on their 155-acre coffee farm. But he said they’re being proactive by conducting regular surveys of their fields and spraying fungicides during the wet season.

Darcy Oishi, acting manager of the state Department of Agriculture’s Plant Pest Control Branch, said they are working on a subsidy program that allows farmers to be reimbursed for the costs of chemicals they use to control coffee leaf rust.

He also said the department’s Pesticides Branch is working on labeling, identifying and listing products that can help to control the fungus. The department’s request to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to allow the use of the fungicide Priaxor Xemium was approved in May. Oishi said the department hopes to continue building on that so farmers have an arsenal of protection against coffee leaf rust.

Additionally, his staff is trying to bring in rust-resistant coffee plants from other parts of the world to test their viability in Hawaii.

Oishi pointed out that the impacts of coffee leaf rust are sweeping. Although the fungus might not show up on all farms, he said those farmers still might want to take steps to prevent infection.

“Every coffee grower will be impacted sooner rather than later,” he said. “This is a very significant challenge for the industry. There is going to be a lot of learning. (But) I’m optimistic that the industry will emerge in a stronger and better position.”

Cultural heritage

For many farmers and community members, coffee is more than a business.

Coffee first arrived in Hawaii in 1817 but wasn’t deemed successful until 1825, when Chief Boki, governor of Oahu, brought plants from Brazil and planted them in Manoa Valley. The first commercial coffee operation opened in the 1830s in Koloa, and shortly after, more than 1,000 acres of coffee were planted in Hanalei.

After the fall of sugar cane plantations, many cane fields were replanted with coffee. Many former plantation workers also found success growing coffee.

Today the coffee industry is the second-largest agricultural commodity in the state. According to 2019 state Agriculture Department data, the local coffee industry is worth about $54.3 million. In 2020 more than 22,700 pounds of coffee was produced in Hawaii, the USDA reported.

“Hawaii’s coffee industry is pretty special in terms of our agriculture. It’s very much small farmers getting by to make a living,” said Jones of the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center. “For me personally, that adds a lot of charm to Hawaii, particularly in the Kona region.”

To honor Kona’s coffee heritage, thousands of people attend the Kona Coffee Cultural Festival every year. Now in its 50th year, the festival hosts farm tours, cupping competitions, coffee tastings, live entertainment and cultural activities.

Festival president Valerie Corcoran, a former Kona coffee farmer, said the fact that the festival has been around for so long is a testament to Kona’s rich coffee history.

Growing up in Kealake­kua, Corcoran said, her family owned a nearby coffee farm. She remembers the joy of getting to climb the ladder to pick the coffee every weekend with her dad and siblings. She still vividly recalls hearing the “plinking” sounds of the coffee berries dropping into the bucket. As a kid, Corcoran said, their school schedules also revolved around coffee picking season.

For Greenwell and Shriner, continuing their families’ legacies is crucial. Greenwell, who serves on the Hawaii Coffee Association’s board, said he will always appreciate the old- timers who mentored him and his family. They see each other around town and at the festival every year, and he said he doesn’t want to lose that sense of community.

Shriner, whose daughter is also a coffee farmer, first found the fungus on their farm in January. She said they have already had to have difficult conversations about what’s going to happen if they don’t have coffee to sell, and they feel helpless because they see their trees suffering but don’t know what to do to help them. She hopes to continue the legacy of her parents and all of the farmers who have come before her.

“Coffee is really classically Hawaiian in that there’s a little bit of every flavor. It’s a small community, so a lot of us know each other. You come to Kona as a tourist and you can’t even scratch the surface of what’s here,” she said. “It’s our heritage and way of life. Coffee runs so deep in this community. I would hate to lose that to coffee leaf rust.”

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Jayna Omaye covers ethnic and cultural affairs and is a corps member of Report for America, a national serv­ice organization that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under­covered issues and communities.