“The Burning Berries” With Coffee Growers In Amadeo, Cavite, PH, And “The Burning Bush” On Mt Horeb With Prophet Moses In Egypt

Coffee is my cup of tea, hehe. I’m a creative writer, and it helps me think this way and that, keeps me alert to think of other possibilities or positions or points to ponder. I’m beginning to write this essay without my companion cup of conducive coffee – how good/bad is that?!

My Nescafé Original cup is almost empty. My favorite was Nescafé Brown, no white sugar, but the supply went zero. Once a coffee addict, always a coffee addict! Now, where is that coffee?!

That is to say, the exacting market is always there – but where’s the exact product?

I now find it has been a slow but sure death. Some 6 months ago, Justin Paolo Interno was already saying, “Farmers in the coffee capital [Amadeo, Cavite] may be fighting an enemy they never knew” (14 Oct 2021, “Eleventh Hour: Amadeo Coffee Farmers Fighting A Lesser-Known Enemy,” Manila Bulletin, MB.com.ph). “The coffee is dying, the industry is dying” – my words, but they reflect the reality.

Why is the coffee industry in Cavite dying? The clue is in the name of the entity Mr Interno is writing for: “Climate Reality Project Philippines.”

The culprit is Climate Change!

Amadeo farmers used to be very proud of their harvest and boast about producing great quality coffee beans back in the ’90s. In recent years though, coffee farmers were frustrated and helpless as their cropping patterns were almost always disrupted by sudden bursts in temperature. In fact, one season, upon celebrating their trees finally reproducing, the temperature spiked, leaving the flowers burnt! A year’s worth of harvest, gone, just like that.

I now imagine God speaking to “Amadeo” (“lover of God”) via “The Burning Berries.” In Mt Horeb, “The Burning Bush” was God speaking to Moses, revealing His power available to Man if he believes. In Cavite, The Burning Berries was God revealing Man’s sin to his crop, and all he needed to do was open his eyes. To what? To Climate Change!
(“The Burning Bush” image from oxford.anglican.org)

World Future Councilsays, “Agriculture is directly responsible for 14% of total greenhouse gas emissions [GHGs]” (21 Oct 2012, “How Does Agriculture Contribute To Climate Change?”  worldfuturecouncil.org). Chemical fertilizers, pesticides and weedicides are major generators of GHGs.

What to do? Instead of Chemical Agriculture (CA), coffee growers, change to Organic Agriculture (OA)!

No, the complete use of organic fertilizers in coffee agriculture would not now drive away those sudden bursts of high temperature that would destroy the berries –

But those coffee plants would grow healthy, very healthy, and would be able to fight hidden enemies as well as bursts of high temperature!

ANN says (Author Not Named, undated, “Healthy Soils Increase Resilience,” Organic Farming Research Foundation, ofrf.org):

Healthy soils have good structure (tilth), which allows them to absorb and hold moisture, drain well, maintain adequate aeration, and foster deep, healthy crop root systems. Such soils sustain crops through dry spells.

I’ll drink to that! Another hot cup of coffee, please!@517