Better Business Insights
Rising temperatures threaten tea yields and force growers to consider planting “upslope” at higher elevations where cooler temperatures prevail. Unfortunately, subtropical tea cultivars perish in a hard frost, expected above 7,500 feet. At Ukraine’s Zhornyna tea farm Maksym Malygin is successfully growing plants under forest cover that have survived heavy snow during prolonged winters at temperatures 26 below zero Celsius.
In 2021, Sri Lanka launched a ₹4.5 billion global promotion to increase the export volume and value of Ceylon tea, a billion dollar brand. The campaign targets 12 markets, including the UK, EU, Asia, and North America. In parallel, the board is pursuing a Protected Geographical Indication by the European Union.
By Jinghong Zhang
Henrietta Lovell defines good tea as a beverage that tastes amazing and benefits both the people who craft tea and those who drink it.
Can a world that has already eroded a third of the planet’s soils feed a population of 10 billion without intensive agricultural practices that rely on heavy inputs of fertilizer, herbicides, and pesticides that sustain monoculture farming?