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Roast! Coffee Smarter: Climate Change · Coffee People Podcast

0:17
Good morning and welcome back to the roast West Coast coffee
0:20
podcast. I'm your host Ryan Walt and
0:22
today we're going to get coffee smarter by talking to Jay ruskie
0:26
a fringe coffee and good land. Organic Farms, about climate
0:29
change. Let's start by getting a few
0:32
things on the table. There is no way for Jay to fully
0:35
describe the impacts effects expansiveness or
0:38
unpredictability of climate change on farming in what
0:41
amounts to about a 30-minute show.
0:43
So, if you're listening and you think well, why didn't he say
0:46
that? Or why didn't Ryan asked this?
0:49
The answer is pretty simple. The show is only so long and
0:52
we're doing our best to condense some pretty big Concepts into a
0:55
fairly concise window. Second Jenna's voice is a bit
0:59
Gravely and he looks like what? I imagined a very relaxed Laird
1:03
Hamilton might, if layered wasn't so jazzed up on Blended
1:06
superfoods three decades working with the land, had given J the
1:10
perspective that comes with time, which makes him such a
1:13
great resource for us. And this show to talk about this
1:16
very big topic. Finally, Jay is a farmer and
1:19
according to him, the farmer is the eternal optimist, which is
1:24
frankly, such a great line, and I wish I would have thought of
1:26
it. Why you're listening today?
1:28
Take a moment to follow at Fringe coffee on Instagram or
1:32
head to French coffee.com to learn more about the premium
1:35
california-grown coffees that they're producing right now.
1:38
Make sure that stainless steel coffee tumbler is full because
1:42
it is time for the show. I appreciate you coming back on
2:03
the show and I know you're busy guy and spending some time with
2:06
us. I'm really excited to talk to
2:08
you about getting coffee. Smarter today on the roast West
2:10
Coast podcast today, see if I can help.
2:14
Well, if anyone can help, I'm sure it's u j.
2:17
So for this shows purposes, first of all, I'm going to say
2:21
I'm talking to Jay, ruskie a fringe coffee, use a guest on
2:25
Last season, make sure we link to that as well.
2:28
But for this shows purposes we're going to talk about
2:30
climate change and kind of how that impacts farming and coffee
2:34
in general. But I want to make sure that
2:37
we're talking about the same thing.
2:38
So when we're referring to climate change which is this
2:41
huge broad thing, that no one agrees on what does that mean to
2:44
you? J russki as a farmer and a
2:47
coffee professional and you know how big is this or how small
2:51
it's a to you. Thank you, Ryan for having me
2:55
back and yeah, definitely climate change is a Hot Topic,
3:01
pun intended, you know, it's like, I've come personally to
3:05
the point where I've already accepted years ago.
3:08
So now I have a stance where I have to, like, the way we Farm.
3:13
The way we do, things is like, guys figure it out.
3:18
So I'm done kind of debating it a bit, and so that's what
3:22
friends is doing a lot of dough Being resilient food, production
3:24
systems socially with outdoor crops.
3:29
You know, when your outdoor crops your every little thing
3:32
kind of has an impact on not only like your crops but you're
3:37
the people who work on this crops.
3:40
So there's a social issue regarding that.
3:44
For me, it's not about everything just getting higher
3:48
and drier. It's A disruption in the
3:51
seasonal flow daily flow of the environment.
3:56
I'm going to now through farming for 32 years and so I can draw a
4:01
but upon like different decades and I'm kind of mentally.
4:05
Put things into groups. I can 19 1990s 2000-2010.
4:11
I mean and so I I've seen the changes mainly like wind
4:16
patterns so I'm kinda I dwell on wind a lot right now.
4:20
I started coffee I was always worried about the frost and the
4:24
cold weather. That's kind of a threshold that
4:26
we worry about coffee and avocados and lemons and
4:28
everything is like trying to take advantage of this Coastal,
4:31
Southern California, environment, find frost free
4:33
environments, Because there's subtropical and tropical plants
4:37
that we grow with irrigation, but then over the last three
4:41
years, specifically, it's the environment has been windy and
4:45
Southern California. We get these like Santa Anna's
4:48
that are traditionally a fall event that are dry and come in
4:53
off the offshore and we have Sundowners which are similar
4:58
that in the Santa Barbara regions and those are dry events
5:01
and usually, they're like a day or two, but we find that they
5:05
are Longer dryer stronger and they're almost year-round and
5:10
so, one things I do daily is our Design Systems as, you know,
5:15
dealing with wind so. So there's a whole bunch of ways
5:19
we can Define climate change and those are kind of my top
5:23
thoughts regarding how climate change affects me.
5:26
And what I think about sharing you, you've mentioned, It's A
5:30
disruption, our interview today was actually delayed because of
5:34
a wildfire In your area which I think is I mean I don't want to
5:38
say it's good for the show because it's terrible for
5:40
everyone. But it's also interesting that
5:42
we're talking about this today is that something that's
5:44
happened to you more recently or you just mentioned looking at
5:50
farming over the decades? And you've mentioned to me
5:52
previously on our previous interview that you think on a
5:56
longer timeline than most people because of your farming
5:59
experience. It seems that most people would
6:02
just farming requires that you think on a longer timeline Why
6:05
is it getting harder to predict what that weather pattern or
6:09
what those disruptions will be in the future?
6:13
We go backwards on that one. So no, I can predict it will be
6:16
disruptive in the future. They say that's fair.
6:22
You're not a dancer. I think that's what resiliency
6:25
is and I know now that's gonna be the new word we overuse but
6:29
you know I'm trying like Farm resilient teach my kids to be
6:32
emotionally resilient to like there's all these resilience
6:35
he's features which means like I think we might be regarding
6:40
agriculture. One of the things I've learned
6:42
From dr. Kelly to Lori was here the other
6:45
day from the Brand's goal is we have, we've worked our food
6:48
system be as efficient as possible monocultures, one of
6:52
the ways. And so then if we get some
6:56
environmental anomaly, that comes along it disrupts that
7:00
system drastically almost to the point where the Tails.
7:03
And so the traditional way of us trying to take her food system
7:08
as efficient as possible, we need to now make it as resilient
7:11
as possible. Because when something, if
7:15
something's going to sail, or something's going to be an
7:18
important variable, that changes need to be prepared for that.
7:21
So, there is that and I go back to your you started off this
7:25
question with fire, you know, i-i've been touting that if you
7:29
want to be a farmer in Southern California, you have to have
7:33
some firefighting skill sets. And in fact, I even have like a,
7:36
i County gives our Farmers, especially agriculture passes
7:40
for catastrophes to help the firemen.
7:42
And with the fires because we are part of that we go through
7:45
training and that's a resilient they system and the community
7:49
really enjoys the agriculture belt because it's that
7:52
agriculture belt that protects the urban population.
7:55
So there's something to be said having that agriculture really
7:58
supports not just the food system but a buffer to the
8:01
community going back to my wind comment.
8:04
One of the things that fire really likes is long dry, hot
8:07
winds and where there's when fire together.
8:12
It's and Quickly. And so as you reflect in the
8:15
last 15 years and compared to the first 15 years of my farming
8:19
from 1990 on, I have a single Wildfire or had a couple little
8:23
things now we've sent by the county has had some historic
8:28
fires so it's part of it you know and I realize in the last
8:32
fire you know my wife would like oh here we go.
8:34
Your Phase 1 fire we have all plans execute on game these
8:38
things and we're all calm everybody else is running around
8:41
but we'd like oh yeah we've been through this before.
8:42
We're emotional a lot calmer than we've ever been on these
8:45
things so we've matured and learned to live with it.
8:48
So I is one example, you know, and I think if we're going
8:52
extremes, I think we'll get fire, think we'll get from what
8:56
I can tell at least locally. That means they'll be like some
9:01
longer dryer vents from won't get rain, will probably get
9:03
heavier, rains. All at once.
9:07
So that's another example of how life reposition my thought
9:10
process in the long term is why I built this last coffee block,
9:14
which is our special hybrid block.
9:16
I put a big draining. Everyone's like, well, you put a
9:19
big drain and I was like, well, because when it rains, I'm not
9:22
gonna prepare for the 50-year storm, I would prepare for the
9:25
100-year storm. That's going to come twice as
9:27
often as we think. So it's kind of another example
9:30
of me building my farming system thinking about what type of
9:34
disruption My again, you said something earlier about growing
9:38
coffee outside which is what you do even and you've been creating
9:41
a network of other Farmers throughout Southern California.
9:45
Do you envision a future in which we're growing coffee
9:47
inside. Like some of the, there's some
9:50
modern tech companies that have created indoor farming systems
9:53
app Harvest comes to mind is that something that you guys
9:56
have looked into or you thinking about, or you see in the future?
9:59
Or is that not something fringes looking at just yet?
10:02
Well, I mean, we start or plants and controlled Atmosphere.
10:05
So all our seedlings stocks doing some hybrid development.
10:10
We can tissue culture and so and I've grown some coffee and doors
10:14
but perennial crops at this point unless you get some
10:18
extreme prices. It's not affordable way to grow
10:21
crops because the cost of the infrastructure for 3 ounces.
10:25
Somewhat modified greenhouses, maybe some somewhere in the
10:28
future with tunnels and things to kind of give you not wearing
10:33
the pumping and cold air and higher where you're controlling,
10:35
but you kind of buffer the system to protect yourself.
10:39
So there is that we all have explored that currently we use
10:45
like avocados is creating these environments.
10:49
I think it creates a barrier tree, you know, having more
10:53
layered system because there More about diversity below the
10:57
soil above the soil right now and I think it's very cup of
11:00
coffee. I think they start introducing
11:02
controlled atmospheres, it feels like whenever we modify a
11:08
growing system, we solve one problem and then create some
11:12
more and it's kind of fascinating whenever we tweak
11:15
anything. I'm always like, oh well, we
11:17
solved it now. Let's now we need to be very
11:20
careful. Like don't like just sit back
11:23
say we saw the everything's great now because he's doing
11:25
sneak up that you didn't think of, you know, you may bring like
11:29
a coffee and do like a shade owl.
11:31
Sometimes, also, an ant's show up here.
11:33
We're all they had to do, they like the environment to, and
11:35
then you're dealing with app. But I do feel like monoculture
11:39
systems, are we have to look harder at them and try to find
11:43
their ways or grow higher quality crops?
11:46
And and I think they'll be consequences for that.
11:50
Share, its the Jurassic Park problem.
11:51
We create this, we bring this thing back to life, or we change
11:54
something, and we There's unexpected consequences which is
11:58
you know, humanity and Generals unexpected consequences of our
12:01
actions selfishly as someone who drinks coffee and loves coffee.
12:06
All of these things that you're talking about sound like they
12:09
are very expensive to deal with. How do you envision kind of the
12:13
effects of climate change and the effects on farmers in
12:16
particular, in agriculture to affect our coffee, drinking
12:20
experience. We've, I've talked with a bunch
12:22
of Roasters in the past about What we should be paying for a
12:25
cup of coffee, I think you. And I talked about that
12:27
actually, how do you see these things?
12:30
Impacting, the ability of farmers and Fringe farmers in
12:33
particular? Because you've got this network
12:35
of farms, that you support. How do you see this impacting?
12:38
Their ability. It sounds like you're planning
12:40
ahead. And and by extension, you know,
12:42
on the consumer who's looking for that kind of Premium cup of
12:45
coffee, well, when I form friends, the goal was to try to
12:50
put a farmer first. Business.
12:54
I feel like a lot of our food system is retail forward, and I
12:59
feel that the farmer, it takes a burden of the risks, but now the
13:04
benefits of the cost. I see this time and time again
13:10
in the food distribution system, especially for small, mid-sized
13:14
Farmers. So, with fringe the goal was
13:17
trying to get half the value back to the farmer.
13:19
So that farmer can invest first. Get the turn on Destiny because
13:24
with perennial crops a plant tree in the ground.
13:26
They have no cash flow for three or four years.
13:29
So then you have to reclaim that investment and then eventually,
13:33
hopefully, they'll have a crop for 15-20 years that they can
13:39
cash flow. So that's one part.
13:42
But the second part of the system is where we willing to
13:44
pay for a good cup of coffee, a reliable cup of coffee in.
13:48
This is a now just to other parts of the food system.
13:52
So being here in Southern California, I get to kind of
13:55
explore some sectors, like the wind sector.
13:58
I did a little nut super scientific.
14:01
But I said well what's the cost? Average cost of glass of wine a
14:04
restaurant in four five ounces, it's 12 bucks.
14:08
What's the average cup of coffee?
14:11
You know right now for 10 ounces it's like two dollars and fifty
14:14
cents. And so you're basically like
14:17
it's 25 cents per ounce per cup for coffee and two dollars and
14:21
fifty cents per ounce for wine yet from my experience it's a
14:26
lot more work to grow coffee then wine yet wine is gain, 10x
14:31
the return and socially here in California there's wine over the
14:35
hill yet. The coffee has to travel
14:38
thousands of miles to get here and go through lots of
14:40
processing and all these holders and all that.
14:42
So that's over like extreme example for me of like a disk A
14:46
little off-kilter, not not where it needs to be.
14:50
And so, I hope that one thing that friends can do by growing
14:53
coffee here and eventually get to the point where we can better
14:57
explain to everybody that, you know, we're harvesting every
15:01
individual Cherry. When I like picking a whole
15:03
bunch right through machine. Everything got a hand sword,
15:07
three or four times wine. Grapes, don't get hand sword in
15:11
their little bit. Bunches you will be on hand for
15:13
every little bean and then do it again and then do Again, so that
15:18
everybody have a quality being also, you know, you get that
15:21
impacts of a supply chain that with coffee that has Futures in
15:26
hedge funds, you know turning future purchasing the whole
15:30
prices. You see that like in Brazil
15:33
right now and those poor Farmers got some Frost coming through
15:36
and all side. The conversation is protect the
15:39
consumers cup of coffee. Yet we have all these Farmers
15:42
that have already invested. Two three, ten years in the copy
15:45
plants and now I have to start over, but don't worry there.
15:49
The price will remain the same, so we won't change the supply,
15:53
so try and change that conversation a little bit and
15:56
I'm not sure how I can all those things that can be altered.
16:00
I think awareness is number one and then choosing a coffee that,
16:06
you know, can get right back to the farmers number 2 and there's
16:08
not many options. So that's what Fringe is trying
16:11
to do. It is interesting that
16:13
perception of the price of a cup of coffee.
16:16
Especially comparing it to alcohol like you just did with
16:18
wine just this week. I bought a can of cold brew to
16:22
try. I'm not in particular a cold
16:24
brew drinker, but it was something I wanted to just try
16:27
and see in a can and and it was delicious and it was but it was
16:31
like 550, maybe six dollars and I thought well this is really
16:34
good but I wouldn't pay that normally.
16:36
It's just my immediate reaction to someone who drinks coffee and
16:40
cares about coffee. I don't it's just what I thought
16:41
was thinking at the moment and then later that day, I caught
16:44
myself thinking about it again. Again because I was drinking a
16:47
can of beer. I had just paid eight dollars
16:49
for and didn't think twice about.
16:51
And so I started to think to myself well this experience is
16:55
relatively the same. You know, what was it?
16:57
Why do I not question it for this beer?
17:00
And I did for this cup of coffee in the morning.
17:03
And I think about that. I think there's a lot of reasons
17:07
for that. And and, you know, I don't want
17:08
to pin one in particular, but it's hard to change a
17:12
slow-moving ship. You know, we've been thinking
17:14
about coffee as a society. What?
17:16
Way for all these years and taking advantage of systems for
17:19
a long time. It's hard to rotate people's
17:22
perceptions and so I know for myself you know admission saying
17:26
that that was kind of a moment where I thought okay?
17:30
When you drink a cup of coffee or when you buy your cup of
17:32
coffee, you need to start thinking about it more as a
17:35
luxury product, as opposed to I deserve this.
17:38
Someone owes me at this cup of coffee in the morning, which I
17:40
think a lot of people feel unintentionally, not
17:43
maliciously, just sort of that morning, feeling I get A cup of
17:46
coffee. I agree.
17:48
I thank you for sharing the the beer.
17:49
I think it's more extreme with beer and some deer Anthem
17:53
Brewing, friends that you know they're making turn around and
17:57
you know in a couple weeks and putting things in cans and
17:59
getting right prices. And I'm like well yeah I had to
18:02
take like six years and make that cup of coffee for is a slow
18:07
movement moving ship. And I do think it's all about
18:10
education and quality and understanding that the it's just
18:13
a complex coffee as complex. And people want sometimes
18:19
Simplicity in their cup of coffee.
18:22
One thing we're seeing a lot in all of these industries were
18:25
talking about is the conversation around water,
18:29
especially here in Southern California and water rights with
18:32
the Colorado River you mentioned that you mentioned dry and hot.
18:37
How do we see water being impacted?
18:39
And I read a little bit about farmers and water rights in
18:44
California, but I can't say that I really understand it.
18:47
I'm sure a lot of people don't, but it seems like there's like a
18:51
pecking order of who gets first dibs on the water and we're all
18:55
kind of negotiating that right every year.
18:58
Yes it's super complex wiring California goes back, 100 years
19:02
and there's history. And there's things that
19:04
happened, especially when there's plenty of water, there
19:06
were things that happened that don't get highlighted tell,
19:08
there's no water. All right, they know like wait,
19:11
how did we get here? And then there's a whole, every
19:16
Has a different wire profile wire portfolio.
19:21
You know, there's some have ground water, some have
19:24
Colorado, are some have desalle. And so, for every farmer every
19:28
region, it's a little different. We do know that here we are in
19:31
California, which is probably one of the largest agricultural
19:34
producers in the world. Definitely in the United States
19:37
and 98% of the crops are irrigated.
19:43
So we have this food system that In this community and Society
19:47
that's based on irrigated crops. And so, how are we going to be
19:53
better at our water and the water prices are all over the
19:58
place throughout the state? Whether it's from twenty
20:01
dollars, an acre foot to two thousand dollars an acre foot.
20:04
So it just depends on where you are and what crop should run.
20:07
All I know is that we have to grow a lot more like I would say
20:11
like Israel and that region you know where every drop counts.
20:15
So Or gee Howard grow. What crops we choose is going to
20:20
matter more. I do think we have California
20:23
has a pretty good infrastructure for capturing and Gathering and
20:27
spoke the natural of geology of the Nets Sierras and some of the
20:32
system's, we've created. But as we go through these more,
20:35
extreme changes effective, rainfall, where rains, and it's
20:39
effective enough to be able to benefit from it, it's going to
20:42
be key. And when those Bandits come in,
20:45
how Ow, we cherish and take care of it.
20:48
So, those are some very general high-level discussions about how
20:52
we need to approach. Water.
20:54
Northern California. Specifically, rhinos and trouble
20:58
is they don't have the same infrastructure, Southern
21:00
California, and Southern California again, like myself,
21:05
like in Santa Barbara or Lake, Cachuma, is at 49 percent
21:09
capacity, which is Two years left of our supply because of
21:14
the unique nature of this Lake in 2016.
21:17
We got down to 6%. So we're not like this Region's
21:21
different, but if I go 150 miles north.
21:25
I know there's some people that are like moldy Old Farm if we
21:28
don't get average. Rainfall, think we need about
21:30
130 to 140 percent of the average to get back to normal.
21:35
It's a very fascinating time, but I'm worried, but I've been
21:39
through some drops before. So now we sing the find some
21:43
ways to get through it. There's that resiliency thing.
21:46
I think one thing you said that I think is kind of important and
21:50
you mentioned it earlier to is being able to preserve the water
21:54
that were receiving effectively. So if we get that 100 Year storm
21:59
or that 50-year storm, is that water?
22:01
I'll just washing away or are we?
22:03
Are we collecting it or we preserving it and then using it
22:06
efficiently, I think is, is part of this process.
22:09
I would ask you just If you have any thoughts on changing climate
22:14
and from your perspective efforts that can be taken in
22:17
agriculture to kind of improve or slow down the problem or if
22:21
we're just kind of reacting I mean I think it definitely
22:25
always reacting, right? I'm so I think what there's
22:29
always this moment of correction we see this in markets we see
22:32
this a lot and systems pleased to see this a lot in the early
22:38
days of growing avocados. Like we would Grow avocados and
22:43
start gaining some valleys and some extreme areas of frost
22:46
would come through and then wipe out those trees.
22:49
And then we go, we can't go there anymore.
22:51
We may find out a little bit with our water supplies like oh,
22:54
we kind of went a little too guy, asks a little bit too much
22:58
of that given region for water when they find a those places
23:01
are appropriate to get through this time.
23:03
So they'll be the self-correcting of what Regional
23:06
production of food, production systems really work.
23:09
Because I think we got a little ambitious on.
23:11
Um, of our plantings on different crops throughout the
23:14
state. So I think that that's the first
23:17
shift that we're going to kind of see I do I do see technology
23:20
coming into play a bit both like real technology and managing
23:26
that watered when to turn water off those type of systems.
23:30
And I feel like what we're doing on our small-scale is trying to
23:34
build their soils from holding water and be more effective.
23:38
So we've been doing fun things with And coffee the leaf layer
23:42
from the avocados. Build up organic matter for the
23:46
coffee. We've been bringing mulch early
23:49
days so that when we do irrigate the water stays in the root Zone
23:54
and it's they're absorbed by the plant.
23:57
So this concept of making more effective water goes from like
24:03
the granular scale around the plant and the BIOS raizo sphere
24:07
of the plan, all the way to the delivery system of the water to
24:11
the farm. I'm shaking my head because it's
24:15
so complicated and yet something that we've been you know people
24:19
Farmers have been doing for decades centuries even as a
24:22
farmer do you have to be an optimist or a pessimist or
24:25
somewhere somewhere in the middle to survive kind of
24:28
emotionally. Well, you have to be optimists
24:33
the farmers in eternal optimist, right?
24:36
And then you also have to be able to like not think of like a
24:40
problems. Going to be you down problems.
24:42
I got a new problem. It's go figure it out.
24:44
I think that's what makes the successful farmer.
24:47
Is understanding complexity, simplified complexity and then
24:51
finding problems as they sometimes.
24:53
Welcome challenge, you know? So and I, if I reflect on some
24:57
of my mentor, the farmers have mentored me in the past.
25:00
Those are that's what they like to do.
25:03
What about Fringe? Is there anything with fringe
25:05
going on that we should know about or French coffee?
25:08
Good land Organics that you wanted to share today.
25:11
We met through covid. I was that was good.
25:16
My celebration for the last six months.
25:17
It was my farmers were made to, but as at the supporting
25:22
infrastructure and system, I think that was key for me and
25:25
appreciate all my Farmers out there.
25:27
All The Fringe Farmers, I have Committed to get through this
25:32
strange time in our society. I feel like toffees more
25:38
important people than ever now and there's been the consumers
25:41
actually brought coffee home a bit more.
25:45
They seem to Glow more sophisticated towards how
25:47
they're brewing and caring that I think that's a great thing for
25:50
for coffee. In general Fringe itself is
25:53
trying to now as we prepare for next couple of years where we're
25:56
really going to allow the Farms are going to start coming to
25:59
production. So I'm doing things to prepare
26:02
for through that. We're going to be testing some
26:05
brewing and some coffee experiences coming up.
26:08
So maybe here in Santa Barbara areas, I kind of bring the
26:11
coffee to the consumer so I'm beginning to play around with
26:15
like more of the tail end of the process and I'm super excited
26:20
about what we have, super excited about the coffees are
26:23
coming forward. I do think that the pandemic
26:28
kind of closed the door and whatever Wave of coffee, we were
26:31
in third, fourth fifth. I think we're into a new new
26:37
approach to coffee. So, I've been calling it The
26:39
Coffee experience. And now, what's the new copy
26:41
experience and hopefully, involves friends and family and
26:44
loved ones and enjoying coffee, but they respect the Brewing
26:48
process, which respects the veins, I'm kind of playing with
26:51
that. And then Fringe is committed to
26:55
find unique ways to reach an out that the consumer the continue
26:59
to educate. About how it's grown and how
27:03
complex it is, and why you should pay a little bit more for
27:07
your cup of coffee. I know that you guys, when you
27:10
mention experience, you were doing some farm tours and one
27:14
thing that the pandemic left, a lot of time for was to start
27:18
preparing for a future. Where I didn't have to think
27:21
about covid-19 is traveling, we've got our travel pretty
27:23
minimal here, my wife and I, but we actually kind of circle that
27:27
Santa Barbara area and we're like, well, you know, what'd be
27:28
fun is a fringe too. We're on our way out camping or
27:31
something. So I wanted to share with you a
27:34
story before we finish up today, which is I told you last time,
27:37
we spoke about the lime tree that we had and I wanted to
27:41
update. You, we have three limes,
27:43
they're not quite there yet but we're still committed.
27:46
We're tending it every day and we had some some issues with
27:50
like a little leaf problem Nat that we had to deal with but
27:54
it's not the same as what you're doing on a grand scale.
27:57
But I feel empathy for any any farmer because Because of the
28:01
work that I've put into this lime tree for the last two
28:03
years. Well, I'm glad you're
28:06
approaching the Harvest because that's very rewarding.
28:09
We can't wait to see what drink or food.
28:11
You use with that lime or those three lines.
28:15
It might be like that first fish that I caught that we put in the
28:18
freezer when I was eight, you know, for kept it for 10 years
28:21
because I wouldn't get rid of it.
28:24
Well don't do that. Actually what you should do is
28:27
just you and your wife, go out, pick it and quickly break it
28:30
open and eat together and just cherish it.
28:33
And, and then the second one, you can put in the freezer for
28:35
10 years because there's really nothing like harvesting off a
28:41
tree and consuming it right there.
28:43
I think a lot of people benefit from that Harvest moment.
28:47
I'm looking forward to it. Jay I really appreciate you
28:50
coming back and chatting with us about a very complex topic.
28:54
And and I look forward to the next time we get a chance to
28:56
chat Ryan it's always a pleasure talking to you and next time
29:00
you're driving around looking for a campsite up here give me a
29:02
call okay to recap climate change is
29:18
a huge topic and it isn't just about things getting hotter and
29:23
drier. It's about Eruptions disruptions
29:26
in the seasonal flow of farming, disruptions in the seasons.
29:28
And in the weather, we are already making concessions to it
29:32
in our everyday life, whether we realize it or not, because it
29:34
impacts our supply chains, our food sources, and our weather.
29:38
How many of you have adjusted your travel plans in recent
29:41
years because of wildfire, or hurricane.
29:43
How many of you have had weather-related increases to
29:45
your housing insurance, or read a story about Farmers but
29:48
moaning an unexpected. Frost as a farmer J is past the
29:52
point of debating about climate change.
29:54
JH. He's just trying to figure out
29:55
how to move forward getting the best quality.
29:57
Crops the most efficiently, while also dealing with the
30:00
hand, he's being dealt for him, exploring technology.
30:03
That helps us be more climate-friendly and build
30:06
resilient food, production systems on his farm and sharing
30:09
those systems with a network of Fringe coffee farms.
30:12
In Southern, California is one way to continue creating a
30:15
coffee and food experience while dealing with the
30:18
unpredictability of the future. We've mentioned a few times on
30:22
this show that it takes a long time to go.
30:24
A Coffee Tree first being planted to an actual crop of
30:27
coffee, being ready to harvest one of the farms, in The Fringe
30:31
network of blue tail Coffee, Grove in San Marcos, California
30:34
is working towards that goal. We talked to the owner Kyle,
30:37
Rosa in season two of the show. And after some delays due to the
30:40
pandemic, and construction is new Cafe, Breakers Coffee and
30:44
Wine in Del Mar, California is finally ready to open?
30:48
He'll be featuring his own coffee and locally.
30:50
Grown coffee on his menu, right? Beside coffees from other
30:54
regions of the World. By the time you hear this, the
30:57
doors will be open and coffee will be ready to drink.
31:00
I wanted to add a couple of show specific vocabulary words today
31:04
monoculture is when only a single crop planter organism is
31:09
grown on a piece of land. Think fields of corn and Iowa,
31:12
or almonds, in California. Jay is incorporating his coffee
31:16
trees in with other crops. Like avocados to get a more
31:19
diverse and hopefully more climate-friendly crop that helps
31:22
create better soil. Long-term?
31:24
During the show, Jay said the term D cell, which is a
31:27
reference to where some farms in California, get their water as
31:31
opposed to a river or a reservoir desal is shorthand for
31:35
desalinated. Salt water taken from the sea
31:38
and distilled into fresh water. That is safe to drink
31:41
desalination. Plants are one way.
31:43
California is trying to combat drought conditions.
31:46
There's actually a desalination plant right here in Carlsbad,
31:48
where I'm based that converts 50 million gallons of seawater into
31:53
fresh water, which they deliver to the county every single day.
31:56
It accounts for nearly a third of all the water we use here.
32:00
That's pretty wild. And I'm going to share a video
32:02
tour of that plant on roast westcoast.com that is all for
32:06
this episode of the roast West Coast coffee podcast.
32:09
Thanks to Jay for returning today and check out the coffee
32:12
experiences that they're offering on Fringe coffee.com.
32:15
They've started offering Ranch tours, that include coffee and
32:18
fruit tastings as you walk, the farm which is pretty cool.
32:22
Also check out roast westcoast.com Where I'll link to
32:25
all of the things we talked about during the show, subscribe
32:28
to the newsletter, so you don't miss any upcoming episodes.
32:30
And if you like the show man, please tell a friend.
32:33
It is the best way for us to grow and I greatly appreciate
32:37
it. Check back next week, for a long
32:39
conversation with Taylor Fields, the former Fortune 500
32:43
accountant, turned coffee roaster, who is quickly turning
32:46
into a coffee Mogul? It is one of the more rewarding
32:49
interviews I've done and I've been very lucky to interview, a
32:52
lot of incredible entrepreneurs over the Ears.
32:55
If you are drinking coffee at home this week, check out the
32:57
subscription offerings from our roast industry Partners
33:00
steady-state, Maria and leap coffee.
33:03
I also want to shout out Cafe litter, zoom bar coffee and tea.
33:06
Moster coffee, Cape Horn coffee, importers and Camp coffee
33:11
company for supporting the show. This episode of the roast West
33:15
Coast coffee podcast is was has been written produced and
33:19
recorded by me Ryan Walt. I hope this episode is found you
33:22
happy healthy. And with at least enough sanity
33:25
to make it through your day and please always tip your Baristas
33:29
and be sure to drink good coffee.