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Good To The Last Drop: The Emergence Of Coffee Ringspot Virus, Michael Goodin, Antonia Dos Reis Figueira

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Two and a half billion times per day a human hand reaches for a fresh cup of coffee. Although arguably dispensable for life per se, with an industry value of US$174 billion, coffee provides the lifeblood that sustains economies of producing countries located in the “coffee belt” situated between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. As a “solvent” in which many human interactions take place, coffee is witness to the broad spectrum of human activities from the mundane to the pleasurable and personal. However, in opposition to its economic, cultural, and physiological importance, diseases such as coffee rust (caused by …