Coffee Rust Strikes at the Heart of the Plant
Known in Latin America as *La Roya*, coffee rust is a fungal disease considered one of the most devastating threats to coffee cultivation worldwide. It is caused by the fungus *Hemileia vastatrix*, which attacks the leaves of the coffee plant, blocks photosynthesis, and gradually weakens the plant until it produces little to no harvest at all.
La Roya hit Latin America particularly hard between 2011 and 2014. During this period, rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and monoculture farming accelerated the explosive spread of the fungus. Entire regions lost their economic foundation within just a few years. In many countries across Central and South America, more than 70–90% of coffee plants were damaged or destroyed.
Our plantation was not spared either. Within a short period of time, more than 90% of the coffee stock was destroyed. Coffee cultivation, once the foundation of life and income for the land and its people, was no longer economically viable. The plantation was, in effect, on the verge of collapse — exhausted, devalued, and without any short-term перспективе.
What remained was damaged land, uncertain livelihoods, and one defining question: do you give up, or do you choose a different path?