On the El Rosario coffee farm, high in the lush, green mountains of the Colombian province of Antioquia, Carlos Ariel Ángel reels off a list of the bugs and diseases that constantly threaten the coffee harvest.
Top of his list is leaf rust, a fungal disease that first came to prominence when it in effect wiped out the Sri Lankan coffee industry in the 19th century and is now a threat throughout the coffee-growing world. Then there is the dreaded coffee berry borer, a black beetle that burrows into the coffee fruit and ruins it.
Mr Ángel’s list goes on and sounds like something from a medieval apothecary’s handbook: brown eye spot, berry blotch, stem canker stain, leaf spot, pink disease, dieback and sooty mould are just some of the things that keep him awake at night.