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MARCHING
Forth
Battling the
Coffee Berry Borer
in Hawaii
by Marc Wortman and David Cook
Just three years ago, Hawaii’s coffee industry could call
itself blissfully free from the notorious coffee berry borer,
which had invaded coffee crops worldwide. This tiny beetle,
known as la broca in Spanish, is capable of causing major
damage. As the bean hardens, the beetle drills into it and
Coffee cherries in Kona,
Hawaii. Coffee farmers on
the Big Island are battling
the coffee industry’s most
infamous pest, the coffee
berry borer.
photo by David Cook
harms a large amount of producers’ harvest.
continued on page 82
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Marching Forth | Battling the Coffee Berry Borer in Hawaii (continued)
But Hawaii’s free-and-clear status changed
in August 2010, when the beetle was positively
identified on farms in Kona and, later, in
parts of the Big Island’s Ka‘u district. All Kona
coffee farms are now infested, though cherry
infestations can range from under 1 percent to
nearly 100 percent. No one knows how the beetle
arrived in Kona, but given the ease of global
shipping and travel, its arrival was inevitable.
A tiny beetle native to Africa, the coffee berry
borer has now been identified in more than 70
countries and is considered the world’s most
harmful pest to coffee crops. The female is about
2 mm long, about the size of a grain of rice, and
the males are about half that size. The presence
of the insect can affect the whole economy
that depends on coffee production, potentially
destroying an entire harvest—a major concern
for Kona’s approximately 700 coffee farmers,
who in 2011 harvested 8.3 million pounds of
coffee, valued at $34.4 million, according to the
most recent data from the National Agricultural
In 2012, the beetle’s widespread impact led
some Kona coffee farms to inform roasters that
there was serious doubt whether they could
fill their existing obligations and contracts, let
alone any new ones. Greenwell Farms was forced
to tell prospective buyers that it would be at least
a year before the farm would be in a position
to sell them green coffee. Situated in the heart
of the Kona district since 1850, Greenwell not
only manages a farming operation but also
purchases coffee cherry from hundreds of
farmers throughout Kona. The farm is managed
by fourth-generation grower Tommy Greenwell
on just under 100 acres of some of the most
productive land in the Kona district. Greenwell
Farms is closely involved with the fight
against the beetle, given the farm’s size and
involvement in purchasing cherry from other
local growers.
In Kona, yield has dropped and grades
such as Kona Extra Fancy have been difficult
to obtain. Growers are having to discard much
Cherries afflicted by the coffee berry borer. | photo by David Cook
Statistics Survey. continued on page 84
A close-up of a coffee cherry infested by the coffee berry borer. | photo by David Cook
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Marching Forth | Battling the Coffee Berry Borer in Hawaii (continued)
A coffee bean and the coffee berry borer.
photo by Peggy Greb, USDA
A close-up of the coffee berry borer.
photo by Eric Erbe, colorized by Chris Pooley, USDA
more parchment due to floaters and consumed or rotten beans resulting from
beetle damage. As a result of falling yields, the price per pound of cherry has
increased to $1.65 per pound in Kona during peak demand.
Greenwell Farms has collaborated with the Kona Coffee Farmers Association
and the University of Hawaii’s College of Tropical Agriculture and Human
Resources to produce a tutorial video for farmers called “Controlling the Coffee
Berry Borer.” In this video, Tommy Greenwell warns of the damage to crops:
“We’re seeing a weighted average of between 20 and 25 percent [lower yield]. It’s
only going to get worse if we don’t start taking care of it now.” The collaboration
allows for integrated pest management by bringing together the University of
Hawaii’s technical expertise in plant and soil sciences, the farmers who are
ultimately responsible for controlling the infestation, and Greenwell Farms,
which has a vested interest in the solution.
Greenwell has worked to band growers together, presenting the Kona Coffee
Farmers Association in January 2013 with data that he has been keeping on
infestation rates for the past two growing seasons. According to the newspaper
West Hawaii Today, he was quoted at the time saying, “We do not have control of
the beetle yet, though there are a few farmers that do.”
Coffee producers have found it difficult to curb the spread of the beetle
because it is such an unusual insect, explains Fernando E. Vega, a research
entomologist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service. “The female goes
inside the berry, and then she lays eggs, and there are 10 females for every
male. The brothers will inseminate their sisters inside the berry, so when those
females come out of the berry, they are ready to lay eggs. You have
a machine in [the cherry that is] producing females. There is a very
short window when they are outside the berry, and that’s why they
are so difficult to control.”
As Vega explains, females lay a varying number of eggs; one
academic paper tracked 70 eggs within a single cherry, while another
scientist counted 287 eggs. Because the insects are so tiny, scientists
have not been able to track how far they may travel to find new
homes. A pregnant female will live inside one host berry for her
lifetime, and her female progeny will fly away to find new berries to
colonize. Males cannot fly and remain in their original coffee cherry
for their entire life. Scientists in different countries have reported
life spans ranging from about a month to about a half-year for a
single beetle.
Containment Procedures
Collaboration between farmers is a necessity, as the beetle can
quickly migrate to neighboring farms. In Kona, that makes it
everybody’s problem. Farmers are following four steps in response to
the infestation: field sanitation, insecticidal fungus, trapping, and
worker education.
Field Sanitation
Many experts on the beetle believe that field sanitation is the most
effective form of control. Proper sanitation means that every cherry
is removed from the farm at the end of the harvest season, including
those cherries that fall on the ground. As the beetle can migrate from
one part of the field to another, harvesters are instructed to move the
cherry as little as possible. In Kona, farmers did not perform field
sanitation prior to the arrival of the coffee berry borer, says Shawn
Steiman, a Hawaii-based coffee scientist and consultant who works
with farmers to manage the borer beetle.
Though sanitation is effective in theory, it is also problematic.
Growers must harvest all fruit, including cherries on the ground and
between rocks, Vega says. “If you miss one berry, and that berry has
the insect, that’s enough to start infestation again.”
Sanitation measures also can be pricey for the producer, who must
invest in extra pay for workers’ time in the field. “If I do sanitation
in my one acre here, and you are my neighbor, and you don’t do
sanitation in yours, I’m wasting my time,” Vega says. “So you need
coordination. And a lot of people simply won’t do it because they have
to pay somebody to do it for them, or they need help doing it. From
my experience, sanitation is a huge challenge because you’ve got to
coordinate the growers to do it together.” However, sanitation used
continued on page 86
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Marching Forth | Battling the Coffee Berry Borer in Hawaii (continued)
in combination with the other three steps—
spraying insecticidal fungus, trapping and
worker education—should make a difference
in the field, Vega says.
Insecticidal Fungus
An insecticidal fungus was also approved and
recommended to Kona farmers for spraying
crops. This pesticide is certified organic
and was made available for sale throughout
Kona. Each acre where the beetle is observed
requires 1–3 ounces of fungus mixed in 30-
100 gallons of water, sprayed anywhere from
twice a month to every 60 days, depending
on the extent of infestation.
Farmers are instructed to spray the
ground around trees, as well as the crops
themselves, to ensure a thorough treatment.
The fungus has no effect on the eventual
flavor of the coffee.
Spraying for the insect is
problematic because the beetles spend
most of their lives inside of coffee
cherries, which the fungus does not
penetrate. If fungal spores come in
contact with insects, the fungus will
multiply inside the insect and kill it.
And like sanitation, producers must
budget for extra time that workers must
spend in the field, in addition to the
cost of the spray itself, which is about
$60 per quart. One quart will cover
about one acre. Those spraying the
fungus must wear personal protective
equipment such as a face mask,
protective eye wear, gloves, a long-sleeve
shirt, pants and shoes as directed on
the label. After spraying, there is also
a recommended four-hour delay before
re-entering the field.
More research is still needed to
track the effectiveness of the fungus
on the coffee berry borer, Vega says.
borer activity in the field. Producers
should monitor the traps at a minimum
of two-week intervals, and traps should
be cleaned with soapy water every four
weeks.
The methanol/ethanol mixture is not
the most effective way of attracting the
insect, Vega says. Typically, pheromones
or plant attractants are used to draw
insects to traps, but scientists have not
yet determined chemicals or pheromones
that will work specifically with the coffee
berry borer. In the field, the traps collect
a small fraction of the beetles that are
infesting the plants. “There is one study
that has estimated 11 million insects per
hectare,” an area roughly equivalent to
2.5 acres, while only 2,000 insects per day
were captured in traps, Vega says. “The
traps psychologically make you feel good
because you see some insects falling into
your traps. In a lot of places, they get fed
up with them because … you realize that
it’s not making a big difference.”
When Vega is in the field, he inspects for
the beetle by sampling in every other row,
in every third tree. “We pick a branch in the
center of the plant and then we count that
entire branch,” he explains. “If there are 100
berries, how many berries are infested?”
With four people counting in a 20-minute
time frame, those working in the field can
quickly get a handle on a percentage of
infestation.
There is no official inspection process
to ensure that beetles are not moved from
one area to another when buying cherry
or parchment, Steiman says. Inspection
standards are at the farm’s discretion.
continued on page 88
“In the lab, it works really well. The
problem is, throughout the world,
there are no studies that do a follow-up
on the effectiveness in terms of costbenefit
ratio. [After you spray] did you
get higher yields, and what happened
the next season? Did you get a higher
mortality than in places where you
didn’t spray?”
Trapping
Placing traps is not nearly as effective
in controlling the beetle, but trapping
helps producers identify problem areas
of the farm, based on the traps that
capture larger accumulations of beetles.
The bait used in the traps is a methanol/
ethanol mix that attracts the beetle.
Traps are also recommended around
mills and processing areas, where the
beetle could potentially migrate out of
fruit. They are set away from the trees,
so that they do not inadvertently attract
new beetles to the trees.
Traps cost $2 to $8 each, depending
on the type and shipping cost, plus the
cost of the attractant. New trapping
protocols in Hawaii suggest the use of
as few as five traps per acre, in addition
to visual monitoring of coffee berry
Worker Education
Finally, worker education is
recommended to ensure the eyes in the
field are able to spot and better manage
the problem. An educated worker will
better spot trouble areas so they can
be contained and sanitized. For farms
like Greenwell, which buys cherry from
other farms, even the bags themselves
need to be properly organized so that
they are returned to their original farm.
When pickers go on break, they may be
educated to cover or tie up their bags
to prevent insects from leaving the
harvested fruit. Some processors will
cover the depulper with plastic that is
coated with grease so that flying insects
will get stuck when they land, Vega says.
In some instances, it is possible to
see the tail end of the beetle sticking
out from a cherry. This visible clue is a
farmer’s first opportunity to spot the
infestation. The beetle is often spotted
on the green cherry, but it will bore into
red cherries as well. “There is a hole—
in Spanish they call it ombligo, or belly
button—in the lower part of the berry,
and that’s the only place where the insect
will go inside the berry,” Vega explains.
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Marching Forth | Battling the Coffee Berry Borer in Hawaii (continued)
Some large mills are inspecting 100 coffee cherries out of each bag to
measure for coffee berry borer “hot spots” in certain areas of Kona.
Others have stopped bringing in cherry from other farms to help
reduce beetle infestation. Processors who are buying from farmers
estimate that they are paying at least 25 cents more per pound for
cherry just to account for coffee berry borer preventive efforts.
Processors and farms can protect themselves from purchasing
highly infested cherry and parchment by randomly sampling incoming
product from every farmer and inspecting the sample for infestation.
The sample would then be pulped and counted and paid for on the
basis of a sliding scale. High-quality beans would receive the highest
advertised price, while low-quality product would either be denied or
would receive a low price. Anything in between would be priced based
on the percent of infestation.
Processors who pay on a sliding scale or refuse to purchase highly
infested coffee promote pest management by rewarding farmers who
practice the steps to help control the beetle and sell quality cherry to
their processors. However, because some processors either must meet
their contractual quotas or are not quality-minded, farmers are not
encouraged to control the coffee berry borer on their farm because they
can still receive high prices for even highly infested coffee, according
to a source familiar with the situation in Hawaii.
The Situation Now
Throughout 2011 and 2012, farms across Kona have seen crop yields
drop by up to 50 percent, with the average loss between 25 and 30
percent. Greenwell’s reported yield drop of 20 to 25 percent falls below
the area’s average, likely due to the farm’s preventative steps and
management of the problem. Due to the large drop in yield, some
growers could not afford to stay in the coffee business.
Despite the news, not all farmers are taking action and some are
not even aware of the problem. One farmer on Hawaii’s Big Island,
situated outside of Kona, had heard the news of infestation but did
A close-up of the coffee berry borer. | photo courtesy Chris Pooley, USDA
Traps attract the coffee berry borer and help farmers identify “hot spots.”
photo by David Cook
not believe that it affected his crops and was not taking preventative
steps.
Around the globe, the coffee berry borer has proved to be
a nefarious foe for the coffee industry. According to a recently
published scientific paper, the direct damage caused from lost berries
and lower bean weight account for economic losses between $215
million and $358 million per year in Brazil alone, Vega says.
Infestation on some level has been reported in nearly every
coffee-producing region of the world, with the exception of Nepal
and China, says Vega. However, he says, the lack of academic papers
reporting the beetle’s presence in those countries could simply be
due to a language barrier between scientists there and the rest of the
coffee-producing world.
In every country where the coffee berry borer has been reported, it
still remains a threat. Most countries use the four preventative steps
that are currently being employed in the Kona area. Some coffeeproducing
countries have used biological control, Vega explains, a
process where an insect can be used to kill another insect. In some
parts of Africa, there are insects called parasitoids, which will lay
continued on page 90
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Marching Forth | Battling the Coffee Berry Borer in Hawaii (continued)
their eggs inside the coffee berry
borer and consume the beetle from
within, killing it. Some of these
insects have been introduced to
other countries, but the results have
not been encouraging, Vega says.
“There is some mortality—it’s not
very high—and sometimes after
they are introduced, they die off. So
they have to be re-introduced.”
Vega and other scientists in
his lab are working on developing
a repellent to help farmers deal
with the pest. He also sees promise
in eliminating the bacterium that
promotes the 10:1 female-to-male
sex ratio, allowing a 90-percent
reduction in the spread of the insect.
However, he says, introducing
a virus that would destroy the
bacterium in the field would be
incredibly difficult.
The third harvest season has
passed since the beetle arrived, and
Kona coffee farmers are hopeful
that within the next two seasons
A close-up of a coffee cherry infested by the coffee berry borer. | photo by David Cook
their coffee quality will continue to
improve as farmers, agencies and
scientists work together to control
the green was graded as extra fancy, fancy or No. 1; more than 75
the beetle’s spread.
percent of the beans were graded as prime.
According to a Jan. 27, 2013, article in West Hawaii Today, green coffee
The damage is disheartening, but farmers understand that
that was processed at Greenwell’s mill prior to the arrival of the coffee controlling the beetle must be a new step in their day-to-day
berry borer was graded at 22 percent extra fancy, 30 percent fancy,
practices. Steiman elaborates on the sentiment among farmers:
24 percent No. 1, 13 percent prime, and 4 percent peaberry, with the
“I’ve spoken with farmers who understand it is something to
rest graded at lower or off grades. During the 2012–13 season, none of deal with, and they have had to add it to their management and
business plans. They aren’t happy about it, of course, but whining
about it doesn’t get anything done. Everyone here is unhappy and
goes through depressed stages. So, morale is down, but life moves
on.”
Adoption of coffee berry borer control methods is improving in
Kona. From a University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture
and Human Resources survey, at the end of the 2010–11 season, only
37 percent of survey participants said that they stripped their trees.
At the end of the 2011–12 season, 60 percent of survey participants
said that they stripped all of their trees, and 80 percent said that
they stripped 75 percent of their trees. Removing all red, green
and raisin cherry from trees at the end of harvest could reduce
infestation in the coming season by up to 80 percent, according to
the Kona Coffee Farmers Association.
Though Kona and Ka’u coffee growers continue to battle
the coffee berry borer, “State, county, and federal agencies as
well as industry associations, leaders, growers, and agricultural
companies have promoted an integrated pest management (IPM)
Farmers in Hawaii have access to a wealth of information about the pest, including
continued on page 92
this DVD. | photo by David Cook
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Marching Forth (continued)
approach to controlling CBB in Hawaii,” says Andrea Kawabata,
who works with coffee farmers as part of her position as a
University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human
Resources extension agent. “For those who followed these IPM
methods closely, 2012 provided them with a bumper crop and
record sales. Gaining control of this beetle requires cooperation
of the entire industry. In 2013, we will continue to encourage and
work with growers.
“Coffee is one of Hawaii’s remaining internationally
competitive crops,” she adds. “Therefore, we need everyone’s
cooperation to keep this industry viable.”
Currently, farmers are dealing with lower yields and lower
income in various ways, Steiman says. “For cherry farmers, most
of them are just taking the hit in profit. Estate farmers have it a
bit differently. If they have coffee, then they’re stoked right now
because prices are incredibly high. Some farmers have decided
that this kind of effort or financial model isn’t what they signed
up for. They’ve packed their bags and sold their farm.”
In the meantime, coffee enthusiasts are going without a
regular supply of Kona’s unique coffee. It seems that wherever
roasters travel around the world, farmers are battling their own
origin-specific challenges—too much rain, not enough rain,
coffee stolen at gunpoint, insect infestation and more. Coffee
growing isn’t for the faint of heart. In Hawaii, the challenge is in
the right hands: the hands of those who live with and care for the
trees that bear this amazing fruit.
Marc Wortman is a Portland, Ore.-based coffee lover who edits
www.makegoodcoffee.com, a site dedicated to helping people make better
coffee at home. E-mail him at marc@makegoodcoffee.com.
David Cook is the owner of Fire Roasted Coffee Company in London,
Ontario, Canada.
resources
For more information
on the coffee berry borer, visit:
University of Hawaii at Manoa, College of Tropical Agriculture
and Human Resources provides information on Hawaii and the
coffee berry borer: www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/site/CBB.aspx
Fernando Vega’s publications, including those on the berry
borer, are available at www.ars.usda.gov/pandp/docs.htm?docid=19432
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