The search is on
Agronomist David Peasley remembers the first coffee varietial trials conducted in Australia in the late 1980s. He was instrumental in leading the project that saw K7s introduced to the subtropics, and nearly 30 years on, he’s about to do it all again.
“The time has come to re-evaluate our production system and start looking for new varieties that will serve Australian coffee production into the future,” says David, an consultant working with the Australian Subtropical Coffee Association.
Back in the 80s, David travelled to Brazil and Hawaii to assess the best coffee varieties for machine harvesting. Out of 30-something varieties that were field tested and assessed, the K7 from Kenya was deemed best suited for Australia’s subtropical climate.
“The trials funded by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) were pretty comprehensive at the time. The K7 was selected to establish the Australian subtropical coffee growing industry. It was considered suitable for machine harvesting, had the highest yield, and consistent superior cupping quality,” David says. “But now there’s a heightened urgency for a new variety because the K7s are just too vigorous.”
As David and many growers are finding, the trees are growing much taller than a mechanical harvester can cope with. As a result, growers have to prune mature trees every two to three years. This has proved a
