Love your coffee?
Thank the birds! Daniel Karp, a US ecologist, has discovered that insect-eating birds devour the worst pest of Costa Rican coffee plantations, reducing damage to ripening berries. He used sophisticated DNA tests to prove that Yellow Warblers — which migrate to Canada in the summer — and four other bird species gorge on coffee berry borer beetles, the most damaging insect to the world’s $90 billion/year industry. When birds were excluded from the tested farms, the borer-infestation rate doubled. Karp calculated that the service provided by the birds increases income to growers by $310 / hectare / year.
Read Insect-eating birds reduce worst coffee plantation pest by 50 percent here.
To read more about bird friendly plantations and why they matter, click here.