As the avocado market struggles in California, niche growers on the southern coast are switching to an unexpected crop: coffee. “[T]hey are eyeing machinery that can harvest the beans, which would reduce labor costs, as well as a contraption called a demucilager that mechanically strips coffee berry skin and pulp off the beans, rather than using water to clean them,” says The New York Times.
Climate change is hurting coffee plantations in the tropics — some Brazilian farmers lost 90 percent of their harvest last year to high temperatures and drought — and giving American farmers an opportunity to jump into the global market.
To date, California only produces about 100 pounds of specialty coffee a year, compared to the 9 million pounds coming out of Hawaii. But as avocado farmers face aging trees, higher real estate prices and stiff competition from Mexico, they’re looking for new cash crops.
“A pound of dried green specialty coffee beans can sell for as much as $120 in today’s market, according to Andy Mullins, a retired technology executive who has planted coffee on his property east of Santa Barbara,” says the Times.
“You should be able to produce a pound for under $30, which is a superb profit margin,” Mullins says. “The only places that see better margins than that are software companies.”
Coffee can often be planted in between avocado trees, along with other high-end items like finger limes and passionfruit — all of which grow well in the warm days and cool nights of the southern coast.