Never mind the hand wringer, check the following futures item while you sit down with your favorite brew
Somebody say ‘peak coffee’? Oh god, it’s real… – LET’S get straight to the point. It’s time to start preparing for the day you either can’t afford, or worse, can’t find … good coffee.
An alarming piece that popped up on the internets in the past week has office workers wondering how they’re ever going to make it through a day in a world without coffee.
Here’s the theory: the price is being driven up, the author of the article, Zac Stone, writes and will continue to be driven up until the world’s most prized bean will become a luxury item.
Driven up by “weather events, pest and fungus outbreaks, speculation on commodities exchanges, an unstable labor market in the developing world, and an unprecedented thirst for good coffee among a growing global middle class”.
“The problem,” Stone says, “is that supply has gone down and demand has gone up.”
Supply has gone down? If you think that sounds like something to do with global warming, you’d be right. (news.com.au)
Coffee – Brazilian Frost, Columbian Weather Create Call Sellers Market (Option Sellers)
Civilization, as we now know it, is surely doomed if the coffee supply is harmed. Perhaps some of the price increases are due to the overprinted dollar.
Jerry, considering what engineers live on and that engineers are the backbone of society (consistently making up for the pointy haired ones), yes society would be doomed if the coffee supply was harmed. Fortunately, I trust in the wisdom of Adam Smith and the knowledge that coffee is a plentiful and bountiful plant harvested across the globe in all tropical regions.
Panic Averted.
Having grown coffee plants from seed, I can assure you it’s not rocket science. Coffee likes iron-rich soil and plenty of water, and not much else. It doesn’t even need a particularly hot environment. So grow your own.