October 2020

First, what is leaf rust, or la roya in Spanish? It is a product of the fungus Hemileia Vastatrix. This airborne fungal disease infects individual leaves of the coffee plant. It is visible on them thanks to the very noticeable discoloration. The Problem However, in the even worse cases the leaves will be unable to photosynthesize. This will make the tree  unable to create energy. As a result the plants branches become bare of leaves and coffee cherries alike. This then leads to dwindling harvests for farmers and less coffee to sell and due to the fact that coffee trees take 3-5