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Global rust belt: Hemileia vastatrix and the ecological integration of world coffee production since 1850

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  • McCook, Stuart

Abstract

The quantitative growth of coffee production and consumption in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries produced qualitative transformations along every step of the coffee commodity chain. The economic integration of the global coffee market in this period triggered major east-west biological exchanges between the world's coffee regions. The global epidemic of coffee leaf rust, caused by the fungus Hemileia vastatrix, illustrates the ecological and economic impact of such exchanges. Between 1865 and 1985, the epidemic spread from its original focus in Ceylon to engulf all of the world's coffee zones. Its economic impact varied considerably: in some places it destroyed more than 90% of the coffee crop, while in others it was little more than a minor irritant. The epidemic's origins, its diffusion, and its impacts were not accidental, but reflected specific conjunctures of local and global biological and historical processes.

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  • McCook, Stuart, 2006. "Global rust belt: Hemileia vastatrix and the ecological integration of world coffee production since 1850," Journal of Global History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 1(2), pages 177-195, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jglhis:v:1:y:2006:i:02:p:177-195_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Valencia, Vivian & García-Barrios, Luis & Sterling, Eleanor J. & West, Paige & Meza-Jiménez, Amayrani & Naeem, Shahid, 2018. "Smallholder response to environmental change: Impacts of coffee leaf rust in a forest frontier in Mexico," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 463-474.
    2. Vellema, W. & Buritica Casanova, A. & Gonzalez, C. & D’Haese, M., 2015. "The effect of specialty coffee certification on household livelihood strategies and specialisation," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 13-25.

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