LA ROYA – affects people, too
La Roya, or leaf rust, is spreading like wildfire through Central America, badly attacking coffee plants and therby affecting the livelihoods of individuals from all walks of life. This color photo essay focuses on the very hard work the coffee culture provides in and around San Pedro de la Laguna, Guatemala. Each and every one of these workers, and the economy as a whole, will take a severe beating unless a solution is soon found to this terrible airborne fungus.

Elias, coffee farmer and small landowner stands among the plants of his small plot holding up a coffee leaf badly affected by “la roya” or leaf rust, an epidemic that has recently been sweeping through the region, decimating production and badly affecting growers.

Young coffee picker seen through boughs so laden with ripe coffee beans that they are drooping under the weight.

An individual coffee picker brings his daily sack of beans to the local mill, where it is weighed and payed cash.

The lady on the right is a “buyer” who purchases coffee beans from the pickers in the mountains, drives them to the mill in her pickup truck, and resells it for a premium.

When the mill is started, a strong jet of water is sprayed through the beans, allowing them to flow to the mill, which is at a lower level.

The belt-driven mechanical mill separates the red sugary husks from the whiteish beans. These will be left to ferment overnight and then washed and sun-dried.

After a night in large concrete tanks, the coffee beans are pumped – with large amounts of water – into long narrow troughs. The water washes the beans and separates the better ones (which are heavier) from the lower-quality ones.

There are no wheelbarrows or other carts: all the coffee is carried on the back. In case of wet beans, this means hoisting quite a hefty load: upwards of sixty pounds. In the background, an operator washes the fermenting beans towards the pump that will propel them to the washing troughs.

For drying, the wet coffee beans are spread out on large plastic tarps held in place by large rocks.

The sacks of wet, fresh beans are dumped onto the plastic tarps and then spread into a thin layer by means of hand-made rakes, in the foreground.

In order to ensure proper, speedy drying, the coffee beans must be turned over with a rake every few hours. Complete drying requires a few days, and the coffee must be sacked every night.

A large expanse of sun drying coffee beans on the shores of Lake Atitlan, in San Pedro de la Laguna, Solola’, Guatemala. An operator is raking the beans for ideal drying.

Traditionally, coffee beans are dried with the husks still on the beans, as here, in the streets of San Pedro de la Laguna, Solola’, Guatemala.

The husks are a by-product of coffee production. Rich in sugar, they ferment rapidly, giving off steam in the cool early morning air. They are recycled as compost.

In San Pedro de la Laguna, all available space is dedicated to the drying of coffee beans, such as this empty lot.

Top quality beans are a light straw yellow in color when dry. The beans will need to be milled again to remove the final, thin, husk.

When the coffee beans are dry, they are rounded up and sacked. If the drying is on a concrete floor, handmade wooden spatulas are used. This is “segunda” (second) quality coffee: the beans retain a few more husks and on the whole appear slightly darker even though thoroughly dry. Segunda coffee beans are not for export and are consumed locally.

Once the coffee beans are dry, they are placed in sacks and the sacks are sowed shut with needle and thread.

The dry coffee beans are driven to Guatemala city, where the final de-husking will take place. Toasting, grinding and perhaps blending will follow.

Several coffee mills – as this one – have been abandoned and now stand, idle, collecting leaves and dust. One of the early victims of “La Roya.”
I had published some of these before, in monochrome and in instalments. This is a set i put together to apply for a grant. The reportage was of a geographic/editorial character when i shot it – aiming to describe the various phases of labor intensive operations behind our daily cups of coffee. The call for entries to apply for the grant, however, explicitly asked for a report concerning a social issue. Any social issue, taken in any date, on any topic. To be told in no more than twenty pictures, carefully arranged in a meaningful sequence.
I only had two photos on the roya proper, and many on coffee production, but i’m hoping strategic placement – as the opening and closing images to the set – will help convert this into a “social” photo essay. What do you think – is this too gimmicky or might it just pull it off?
How effective was the ploy? I don’t know yet, but if i pull it off, you’ll be among the very first to know…
Alessandro Ciapanna
58 Responses to “LA ROYA – affects people, too”
You show the rusty leaves, then the next image is of a smiling man picking beans that are falling of the branch-sort of downplays the seriousness of the situation. That is my…one thing I would change. -amy
Oops – good point. I’ve changed it to one with a more aptly sombre expression – thanks for pointing that out!
You’re welcome. I LOVED my long winded email & plan on looking at them later tonight or tomorrow! What an honor. Thank you!
That shot’s really a good lead in to the social aspects of your essay. You can see the rust on some of the leaves, and if you were to point this out and talk about how the defoliation affects yields then the message becomes clearer, I think, Alessandro.
Unfortunately this call did not allow much commenting on the photos; just a caption for each image and a brief text (in which i mention the overall effects) explaining the whole project.
Thanks for the feedback – much appreciated.
some many people dryer of coffee beans like indonesian people, btw nice thank for ur reference
I’m glad you liked it.
ok 🙂 follow my blog too
It should be practically complete. Only thing that is missing is the effect of La Roya on the affected tree. Does it die or lesser output? But you could make it up by describing it. Thats just my opinion. Other than that, very informative. Thanks.
Boiling one month of photography down to twenty images has proven to be a tough excercise. Nonetheless, an extremely useful one, for a reporter. Overall, the Roya diminishes output by about 30%, but only some of the affected plants die, not all of them. So far, anyway…
Thanks for the poignant feedback.
Best wishes on your endeavour.
looks very good to me…and somehow I prefer the colored photographs…even though I am usually partial towards monochrome..
Thanks, Know-All. These were shot at fairly high elevation, and the mountain light was stunning, much of the time, which really helps in color photography…
I think this is an excellent photo essay, but grant people can be very picky, especially if there is a lot of competition. It’s impossible to predict but you have the material for a very good proposal.
The competition is sure to be tough – the prize consists in an all-expenses paid trip to photograph a project somewhere in rural Peru – so, I gave it a stab. Thanks for the thoughtful feedback.
It should work as it shows what is at stake if the rust isn’t dealt with. We have a frangipani tree that suffers from leaf rust. We were advised to spray it with a diluted solution of condensed milk. We did this for two weeks. It may have slowed down the process but it doesn’t reverse it. I hope you are successful Alessandro.
Thanks, Andrew. Alea iacta est. Now busy on my next project – or three… Agreed: it is devastating to see an ill plant.
Diluted condensed milk – love that concept!.
well documented
Thanks, Ranadive.
Along with being beautiful, and full of humanity, your blog is also educational. Always interesting, Alessandro!
Thanks, Karen. Zooming in on a narrow, specific topic can be hugely educational for the photographer, as well.
Thumbs up for freshly harvested, soaked, fermented, and dried coffee beans!
Thanks Tania! Now all it needs is to be… freshly pressed! 😉
Haha, you’re funny! Sure you’ll be!
And low and behold, you were! Congratulations Alessandro 🙂
Thanks – a surprising bit of divination there – glad you noticed!
Pure chance! I rarely have time to check the Freshly Pressed these days but this morning I couldn’t get my Reader up so thought I’df try the FP site and there you were! 🙂
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that the cup of coffee you get at a coffee shop starts like this.
Yes – and the coffee plant has to age a few years before it gets into full production, so the story really starts even farther back…
Thanks for the comment.
No problem. What I’m also curious about is if they drink coffee there. When I was in Africa (more specifically Tanzania) I noticed that they prefer to ship off the lucrative coffee crop and drink instant coffee or tea.
Your pictorial representations are simply stunning. Thanks for bringing this to the larger community – the mainstream media sure as hell never would…
PS. not gimmicky at all… and there’s no denying you “pulled it off!” 42 likes and counting!
Thanks, Steven. I did spend quite a while at the mill, just to make sure i had at least one good shot of each phase. I think the mainstream media would have no problem with this topic. Which reminds me that i really should invest more time on PR and a little less on photography…
Your positive feedback is greatly appreciated!
Now I want a cuppa… 🙂 Thanks for the insight into the production process… I hope they beat the rust soon!
I hope so too, or else it’s a tragedy for all those pictured. And, hey, i think i’m gonna pop down to the local cafe for a shot of espresso! 🙂
So much goes from the growing coffee bean to coffee. Thank you for sharing.
Oh, so much hard work, and for such low pay… Thanks for the comment!
So sad that for all this work, the payment is so so lousy. Thanks for opening up people eyes! http://www.segmation.com
I think you can pull it off. Good luck!!
Thanks! And if i don’t pull this one off, i have several other projects in the pipeline…
We have something here in the Bay Area (California) where I live, called Sudden Oak Death Syndrome (SODS). It devastates our oak trees, some of them hundreds of years old. We’re studying them and the disease and we are starting to understand how it is transmitted but not how to stop it. I sure hope that the coffee farmers get a cure for La Roya. Sad. I grew up on a coffee farm in Jamaica so I get it, how devastating this is. More sad and wah.
No comment about the grant aspect, but I enjoyed the post. We sometimes have a disconnect on where our products come from.
Thanks, Margaret. Much of where our food comes from is a near total mystery, indeed.
What’s your next project?
I enjoyed seeing the process. Who would have thought so much labor went into a cup of joe! Thanks for sharing it and good luck with the grant application.
I found it very interesting myself – the sheer amount of labor and people involved… I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Hi there! Great post, if you ever get interested in Ocean Sports Media follow my blog! 🙂 Regards!
Carlos
Thanks for the compliment and the invitation, Carlos! Cheers 🙂
I rely on coffee every day for my functioning – good to see how the process of harvesting and processing coffee beans works. I hope you get your grant. Thanks for the interesting post.
I, like you, depend on the stuff, too. But where ours is really only a pleasure, all the people in this post depend on it literally and economically.
Thanks for the feedback!
Reblogged this on cwfact and commented:
Oh Take care EveryboDy !!
Thanks for helping spread the news through the reblog!
You succeed not only to show great images but also to inform us very well on the hard work of producing coffee beans.
Thanks, Truels. Telling the coffee story was the original project, so if that part worked, i am already very satisfied.
Aside from the contest, I like to know about what undermines people/economies around the world. Good luck in the competition Alessandro. I hope you win.
Thanks, Hattie. Me too – i am driven by a healthy curiosity towards things i know little or nothing about. I didn’t win the contest, but i now know a heck of a lot about coffee…
“Seeing more” with the camera, gaining perspective and knowledge . . . the journey is a reward in itself.
Reblogged this on gregsarmas and commented:
Look at how much work goes into your $1.00 cup of coffee. Amazing that a tiny bean that has that much influence on our world is worth pennies to these people. I hope that the rust proves to be curable or burns itself out like some pathogens tend to do. More for these people’s sake than ours!
Thanks for helping spread the news through the reblog!
And, yes – my attention was focused on all the different people affected, directly as well as indirectly.