Wonder why that cup o’ joe is so expensive?
The culprit, says ecologist Ivette Perfecto of the University of Michigan, is a fungus sweeping through coffee plantations in Mexico and Central America, limiting coffee production and pushing prices higher.
Guatemala, Honduras and Costa Rica have declared national emergencies as a result of the disease, caused by a fungus called coffee rust (Hemileia vastatrix).
The current outbreak is the worst since the fungus arrived in the region 40 years ago.
(The Canadian Press)