Much of the work in securing the future of coffee production in the face of climate change focuses on finding and/or creating recent varieties. Often, coffee plants are bred for higher heat and drought tolerance, resistance to coffee rust, and increased yields. But a recent agricultural technology startup is taking a different approach. Lilliput Technologies created a recent biopolymer that shows great promise in protecting coffee plants from increased temperatures.
Biopolymers are natural, biodegradable substances derived from renewable biological resources such as plants and bacteria. They offer environmentally affable alternatives to time-honored petroleum-based polymers. As reported AgTechNavigatorLilliput’s recent biopolymer is called Lillishield. According to the company, most biologics have a soothing effect biotic stresses on plants, damage “caused by living organisms, including fungi, bacteria, nematodes, insects, viruses and viroids.” Lillishield, on the other hand, seeks to address abiotic stresses, which include “non-living environmental factors such as drought, extreme temperatures, salinity, massive metals, and intense sunlight.” In other words, climate change.
Coming in liquid form, Lillishield requires no special equipment and is sprayed directly onto coffee plants, where it protects them from additional heat stress by blocking 70-90% of UR and IR radiation. Excess heat is released back into the atmosphere before it can damage the plant. At the same time, the biopolymer does not interfere with plant photosynthesis processes.
And there are additional benefits. According to Lilliput, due to Lillishield’s protection from excessive heat, their testing indicates that the plant’s water needs can be reduced by up to 60%, which would be especially beneficial in rural production communities where water supplies and irrigation are extremely restricted. It can also protect plants in their most vulnerable places.
“When you move coffee seedlings from the nursery to actual conditions in the open field, the seedlings suffer a lot and this is their most vulnerable stage of development,” states co-founder and CEO of Lilliput Technologies Mauricio Herrera Rodriguez. “And that’s where farmers are also at the greatest risk because they have to put a lot of work into preparing the fields.”
Lilliput is currently preparing for a pre-seed funding round and is in the process of filing U.S. patent applications to continue testing the product in the field.
Nevertheless, this is an electrifying and potentially revolutionary development for coffee producers. Instead of uprooting coffee trees and replacing them with more climate-friendly varieties, which would require a lot of time and labor and potentially reduce revenues until recent trees could be produced, Lillishield would enable producers to continue growing the varieties they know without interruption. And this, if possible and yet environmentally safe and sound, could be a game changer.
