Coffee Berry Borer Threatens Kona Coffee Crop
The Hawaiian coffee growers have appealed directly to a high placed native son for help as the coffee berry borer threatens the coffee crop in the islands. The Kona Coffee Farmers Association and the Hawaii Coffee Association have appealed to both President Barack Obama and Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack for more help in defeating an insect pest that has the potential to destroy the Hawaiian coffee crop. The beetle in question was first spotted in Hawaii in 2010 has multiplied into the billions. There are slightly more than 800, mostly small, coffee farms in the islands and they produce a crop valued at $35 million a year. Kona organic coffee is imperiled as well as the rest of the coffee crop.
Organic or Synthetic Approaches to Fighting a Beetle
Cotton farmers in the Southern United States learned to their dismay many years ago that spraying the heck out of the cotton crop to kill pests could backfire. The insecticide resistant cotton borer beetle destroyed crops because the farmers had removed its natural competitors. Although no one intentionally introduced the beetle into Hawaii the fact that regular coffee is often grown in crowded rows tends to encourage the spread of pests. Growing coffee and other crops out of their natural habitat also upsets the balance of nature. Shade grown organic coffee is grown where birds perch in the trees and are only too happy to help by snacking on insect pests. Let us hope that whatever solution the experts come up with relates to restoring the balance of nature and not adding one more insecticide to what can appear in our morning cup of coffee or kill the birds in the trees.
Trapping the Beetle
One of the approaches is to bait traps and catch the beetles as the coffee berry borer threatens the Kona coffee crop. This is an organic approach and for organic coffee production is preferable to spraying coffee plants with a fungicide which has been somewhat successful in reducing the prevalence of the pest in Latin America. Currently the coffee berry borer that threatens the Kona coffee crop is limited to the Big Island. Thus quarantine may help protect the crop on outlying islands of the Hawaiian chain. In the meantime we applaud the trappers and suggest a bounty on coffee berry borer beetles.
It Is a Smaller and Smaller World
The coffee berry borer that threatens the Kona coffee crop is not native to Hawaii. It got to the island somehow. Many want to restrict or ban the import of green coffee beans from elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands. Even if all green coffee imports are banned the cat is out of the bag, so to speak. A quarantine of the Big Island makes more sense along with methods of control based on sustainable agricultural practices. For example, Yellow Fever was not eliminated from Panama where it caused so many deaths by hunting down every mosquito. Rather it was by selectively applying a thin layer or oil to sources of standing water. This killed the eggs the mosquitoes and greatly reduced the need for spraying. Learning more about the beetle and the habitats it likes could well lead to smart and safe methods of protection as the coffee berry borer threatens the Kona coffee crop. After all, our preference is for safe organic coffee.
Organic School Lunches
Lots and lots of kids eat their midday meal in the school cafeteria. Mostly because of public outcry, school lunches have gotten better over the years as far as nutrition goes, but just nutrition doesn’t go far enough. Serving apples rather than candy bars for dessert might be a slight improvement, but if the apples are covered with chemical residue, it’s kind of hard to see a whole lot of advantage.
The meat on the lunch might now be leaner, but if it’s loaded with antibiotics and growth hormones even at “acceptable” government standards, how is that a real improvement? The milk served today is lower in fat, but it still contains all sorts of drugs that were given to the cows to make them give more milk.
Public outcry helped to improve school lunches to the point they are today, and they are an improvement over the lunches that were once served, but they still aren’t good enough. Only public outcry will force the government to force the schools to use organically produced meats and vegetables in school lunches. Only government regulation will force schools to stop using prepackaged foods that are treated with flavor enhancers and preservatives with names that even the teachers can’t pronounce.
While we wait for the government and the school cafeterias to catch on to the fact that the food being given to kids in the cafeterias is loaded with toxins and drugs, about the only thing that we can do is to prepare school lunches at home for our kids.
Yes, organically raised food (vegetable and mineral) is more expensive that conventionally produced food. There is no doubt about it, but it’s more expensive because it’s worth it. There are lots of really cheap poisons, but we wouldn’t eat them because they are cheap. The same is true of choosing between an apple that was grown using conventional methods (chemical fertilizer and toxic pesticides) that has chemical residue on it, and an apple that was raised organically that doesn’t have chemical residue on it.
Reduce Incidence of Liver Cancer by Drinking Coffee
The list of health benefits of healthy organic coffee just keeps growing. Previously we have reported that Drinking Organic Coffee Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk, More Organic Coffee Can Lead to Less Colon Cancer, More Organic Coffee Can Lead to Less Diabetes, and that drinking coffee reduces the risk of depression. Now we see in the scientific news that you apparently can reduce incidence of liver cancer by drinking coffee. This last report, like the ones before, is based on analysis of patient histories. It turns out that daily coffee consumption, typically in the three cup a day range, is related to a lower incidence of several cancers, less depression, and a fifty percent reduction in the incidence of diabetes type II. The evidence that you can reduce incidence of liver cancer by drinking coffee comes what is called a Meta study. Researches took data from several small studies and combined the data. After appropriate statistical analysis, the researchers found an inverse relationship between coffee consumption and liver cancer. This translates to more coffee leads to less liver cancer.
The general consensus of the scientific world is that antioxidants are a main reason if not the main reason for the beneficial health effects of coffee. Organic coffee is not only free of many of the impurities found in regular coffee but contains things that are beneficial to your health. These things include antioxidants. Scientifically an antioxidant is a molecule that inhibits the cell damage and cell death in human cells caused by oxidative breakdown of other molecule in the cell. Oxidation is a factor in sickness and aging. Antioxidants help prevent the damage caused by excessive oxidation and to a degree inhibit the aging process. When an oxidative reaction brought on by disease gets going it produces free radicals that start chain reactions which in turn cause cell and tissue damage. The human body has or uses antioxidants to control this situation. Natural means of controlling oxidation include vitamins C and E as well as glutathione. It is low levels of antioxidants that can lead to a condition referred to as oxidative stress and resultant damage to cells in the body. Organic coffee antioxidants are in the same class of molecules that help reduce oxidation. The fact that one apparently can reduce incidence of liver cancer by drinking coffee is tied to antioxidants in coffee.
How Much Is Enough?
Depending on the study a cup or two of coffee day can produce long term health benefits. However, a recurring theme in the scientific research is that more coffee is better. Drinking four cups of coffee a day instead of one cup commonly is associated with a greater reduction in cancers and diabetes than a single cup a day. The studies that we currently have are retrospective. That means that researchers asked questions of people who came in for yearly checkups. They kept track of illnesses, etc. In the end they compared the data of habits such as drinking coffee, eating meat, exercising daily, smoking, and more with health outcomes. What will come next will be prospective studies. People will be put into groups of high coffee consumption or a pill containing antioxidants one side and no coffee or specific antioxidants on the other. Then, after a number of years the researchers will analyze the data again. In the meantime enjoy your coffee and remember that in all likelihood you can reduce incidence of liver cancer by drinking coffee.
Organic Restaurants
Because the food industry is beginning to understand the importance of organic food to consumers, it is getting easier to find restaurants that serve organic food. Finally, the prepared food industry is “getting it” that genetically altered food, and all of the additives and hormones and other chemicals in the food they serve to their customers are adding to the problems of disease, unhealthy old age, and poor nutrition. More and more people are demanding healthy organic food options even when they eat out. It’s about time!
Even fast food restaurants have began offering lower- calorie or lower-carbohydrate options on their menus. Now these choices are not organic, don’t misunderstand me, but they are at least a step in the right direction and, who knows, if we keep on keeping on, maybe we’ll even convince McDonald’s to go organic. Well, okay – probably not in this lifetime, but maybe someday.
Organic restaurants are still not plentiful, and they aren’t all that easy to find. You’re not likely to find them on the interstate highways, but they are out there. There are now organic restaurants in most large cities in all states. Each restaurant is an independent business. So far there is no national chain of organic restaurants – but that can’t be too far down the road. As more and more people are demanding healthy organic food choices when they eat out in restaurants, there will be more and more such restaurants, and even those that do offer a completely organic menu are beginning to offer organic choices.
The thing is, it is just as easy to prepare food that was raised without toxic fertilizers and toxic pesticides and drugs than food that was raised with those noxious chemicals. There is no reason why restaurants could not offer organic food choices on the same menu as nonorganic choices. They will – more and more are already doing that.
Advantages of Organic Coffee Consumption
There are three basic advantages of organic coffee consumption. The first two are that organic coffee is good for the environment and it is good for you. The third is that organically grown coffee is typically very high quality. The best organic coffee flavor and aroma rank with the finest coffees in the world. Sustainable agriculture helps preserve the planet. Organic coffee excludes unnecessary impurities from your diet. Coffee contains antioxidants beneficial to your health. And, Panama mountain grown organic coffee, Colombian organic coffee brands, and Costa Rican organic coffee are all truly great coffees.
Keeping Stuff Out of Your Coffee
Some years back an Australian health authority tested regular coffee and found more than 125 impurities. The beauty of organic coffee is that by using sustainable agricultural techniques, coffee growers bring to market a product free of pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, synthetic fertilizers and many other things that do not help the taste of coffee and often are dangerous to our health.
Health Benefits of Organic Coffee
The antioxidants in organic coffee are naturally occurring chemicals that impede the breakdown or oxidation of other chemicals. By doing this in the human body organic coffee antioxidants produce a number of positive health effects. Studies have shown than steady coffee consumption leads to less colon cancer, less prostate cancer, a lower incidence Type II diabetes, and a lower incidence of endometrial cancer. Many of these advantages of organic coffee consumption arise directly from the presence of organic coffee antioxidants. Antioxidants lead the advantages of organic coffee consumption for the health conscious.
And How about Aroma and Flavor?
We may enjoy the healthy aspects of organic coffee but the vast majority drink coffee because we like the aroma, taste, and “pick me up” that coffee provides. Growing coffee in the shade, which goes with organic practices, results in a more flavorful coffee. Hand picking and simply paying attention to the details of coffee processing results in a better cup of coffee. Keeping good coffee separate from mediocre coffee results in a better roasted coffee. Anyone who pays such attention to making good coffee generally succeeds. Organic coffee from Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica are some of the best in the world. For more information about green coffee beans, wholesale organic coffee, and safe organic coffee from these parts of the world contact us at www.BuyOrganicCoffee.org. The best advantages of organic coffee consumption are commonly the excellent flavor and aroma of organic coffee.
More Advantages of Organic Coffee Consumption
So you like to address the world in a fresh state of mind? That is why many drink coffee in the first place. It is the morning wake up ritual. Couple the stimulus of coffee with a great tasting coffee and it enhances the experience. Couple the morning wake me up with the great aroma of freshly ground and brewed organic coffee and start the day fresh, alert, and positive. There are lots of advantages of organic coffee consumption but the best may simply be the experience of a good morning cup of coffee.
Organic Pet Food
Those of us who have pets really love them. We often refer to them as our “fur kids” (as opposed to our “skin kids”). We adore both. We want the best for both. A friend of mine told me the other day that she buys bottled water for her dog. SHE, of course, drinks tap water. Okay, maybe we do go a little far sometimes, but the point is that we care about our pets.
We want our pets to live long and healthy lives. So, when we discovered that it is better for us and our families to eat organically produced food and foods without flavor enhancers or preservatives, it didn’t take long for us to say, “Wait a minute – what about Fido and Fluffy?”
It’s just a known fact that what the customer demands, the customer gets. Manufacturers aren’t stupid. If they want to sell their products and make money, then their products must be the ones that the consumer wants, and organic pet food is one of them.
Amazingly, unlike human organic food, organic pet food is not much more if any more expensive than pet food that is produced using traditional methods. All of the same choices are available, as well. Organic pet food that is meat-based and organic pet food that is vegetable-based are both readily available on the shelves of most grocery stores. Organic pet food is available at ALL pet stores. As the popularity of organic pet food grows, consumers can expect to see larger and larger selections everywhere.
Pet owners who use nothing but organic pet food tell us that their pets have a healthier coat. They say that they have brighter eyes and more energy. They also say that their furry friends that eat an organic diet have a longer life expectancy than animals fed on traditionally produced pet food.
Best Organic Coffee Flavor
When searching for best brands of organic coffee, is it flavor, aroma, or absence of impurities that you seek? Latin American produces more coffee than anyone else and some of the best brands of organic coffee come from there as well. There are excellent Colombian organic coffee brands and Panama Mountain grown organic coffee. Colombia is one of the world’s leading coffee exporters while Panama with its small land mass makes up in quality what it misses in amount of coffee produced. Colombia is generally acknowledged to produce some of the best coffee in the world. On the other side of Panama from Colombia is Costa Rica. There are several great brands of Costarican organic coffee as well. Visitors to San Jose, Costa Rica can find Costa Rican organic coffee at the Café Central Cafeteria in the Mercado Central. Café Terrazú and Tres Rios compete for attention with “Café Organico” shade grown organic coffee at the Café Central Cafeteria display counter. Sit and rest before and after shopping and sample the coffees. Buy a pound of the coffee of your choice for the equivalent of $9 (4,500 colones).
The Best Organic Coffee Flavor
The flavor of coffee that we experience comes largely from the antioxidants that abide naturally in coffee and in those created during roasting of green coffee beans. The temperature at which coffee is roasted is used to create the best organic coffee flavor. However, what one person considers the best organic coffee flavor may not be the best organic coffee flavor for another’s taste buds. Aroma is also a large part of what we experience as taste.
Organic Coffee Aroma
Coffee is often described as having an ashy or citrus aroma, a burn or smoky or herbal aroma, a medicinal or nutty aroma, a chocolate or spicy aroma, a caramel or tobacco aroma, malty or wine like aroma, an earthy and woody aroma, or a floral aroma.
Coffee Taste
Humans taste acid, bitter, salty, sweet, and sour via our taste buds. The combination of these tastes, and aroma, give us the experience of flavor. The best organic coffee flavor comes from the best beans, best processing, best roasting, and prompt consumption after grinding.
To Each His or Her Own
Some folks like a full city roast and other like a French roast. Some only drink shade grown organic coffee and others prefer any organic coffee providing that it is one of the Colombian organic coffee brands. To each his, or her, own. If you get your coffee from a local roaster you can specify which roast you like. You can also specify the coffee brand. What works best for the best organic coffee flavor is to buy small quantities of roasted coffee, grind what you need just before brewing, and avoid storing your coffee in a warm area. Green coffee beans are good for two years if stored properly. Roasted coffee is good for six months if stored properly. Coffee that you have just ground is good right now if you want the best organic coffee flavor. Otherwise it loses flavor and antioxidant intensity by the minute.
Organic Milk
You’re going to be finding more organic milk in the dairy cases of your local supermarket. The reason is simple. The demand for organic milk has exploded! Pediatricians are recommending organic milk, and parents are demanding that organic milk be made available. As we all know, supply and demand is what drives the marketplace. You can bet that when demand increases, so will supply.
Why are pediatricians recommending organic milk for their tiny patients? The answer is rather simple – organic milk is healthier. It provides more antioxidants, more vitamins, and more minerals than nonorganic milk, not to mention that organic milk doesn’t contain those nasty (and dangerous) drugs like antibiotics and growth hormones that nonorganic milk contains. There are even pediatricians who are saying that, unless the mother eats a completely organic diet, organic milk is better for the baby than is breast milk.
A recent study conducted at the Danish Institute of Agricultural Sciences and at the University of Newcastle found that organic milk has 50% more of the alpha tocopherol compound of Vitamin E, 75% more beta carotene (used by our bodies to convert to Vitamin A), and has almost three times more antioxidants than nonorganic cow’s milk.
There’s more. The study also revealed that the organic milk contained higher levels of Omega-3 essential fatty acids. Omega-3 deficiency has been cited as the cause of various health problems in small children, like heart disease, inflammation skin diseases like eczema, cancer, arthritis, and others.
It isn’t hard to see why parents are demanding organically produced milk. Parents want the best for their children, and obviously organic milk is better for the children, so you’ll be seeing more and more organic milk on the shelves of the dairy cases at your local super markets.
Organic Meat and Cancer
The scientific community has been in agreement since the 1970s that consumption of excessive amounts of red meat contributes to contracting several different kinds of cancer, including colorectal cancer and possibly breast cancer as well. The booger-bear in red meat is apparently the fat content, although there is also some evidence that other factors may also contribute to the problem.
The question has been asked: would organically grown red meat be safer for consumption than the meat that is commonly found on the market today? There have been several studies conducted, but there really is not a definitive answer.
The methods used to raise animals for organic meat production are very much different from the common commercial methods. Animals raised commercially are almost always confined to a small area. The theory is that the less they move about, the more quickly they gain weight, and weight is what income is based upon. Also, commercially raised livestock are almost always given antibiotics. These antibiotics are intended to defend the animals against disease – the same antibiotics are toxic to humans. Commercially raised livestock is also given growth hormones to make them grow bigger faster.
The acceptable levels of antibiotics and growth hormones in meat that makes it to the meat department of your local supermarket are regulated by governmental guidelines. And, according to these guidelines, the acceptable levels are not harmful and do no cause cancer in humans – adult humans.
None of the studies that have been conducted can conclude that there is less fat in organically grown beef than in regular commercially grown beef. Neither is there any evidence that the fat in one is any less harmful than the fat in the other.
You must make your own decision about your eating habits. You must decide how much of what presents and acceptable level of risk. For me, I’ll eat organically produced meat. I won’t eat as much as I want, but I will eat some.