Hawaii Ag Officials Hope to Save Coffee Farms from Spreading Beetle Scourge

Cody Simms

State officials want a permanent quarantine on Big Island coffee infested with the dreaded berry borer beetle.

That doesn't mean you won't be able to buy the popular kona coffee in grocery stores and specialty shops throughout the country. But it could mean that the cost could go up as farmers may have to spend more on treatments to prevent the spread of the infestation.

Since the presence of the beetle was confirmed last year, Kona farmers say it has wreaked havoc on coffee crops. Treatment measures have increased costs by as much as 30 percent, they say.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know what we are going to do,” said Bob Smith, owner of Smithfarms, who has been growing Kona coffee for 23 years. He said he could have a failed crop this year. The beetle burrows into coffee berries where it lives out its life cycle, killing crops and damaging the quality of coffee beans.

“We’re just taking it day by day,” he said. “I think it does have the potential to bring the industry down, at least for the next few years until we get this under control.”

The Board of Agriculture passed an emergency measure last year, banning coffee plants, unroasted coffee and used coffee bags that haven’t undergone costly treatment procedures from being exported to the rest of the state. The ban, which expires in December, affects roughly 600 Big Island coffee farmers.

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