Secret to great coffee is down to the birds and the bees, scientists claim

Researchers have been looking at how animals can affect coffee production, Zoe Tidman writes

Bees and birds have a greater positive effect on coffee production when working together, scientists say (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Birds and bees working together can help to boost the quality of coffee, scientists have claimed.

The pair play an essential role in the production of coffee beans that benefits both consumers and farmers, according to new research.

Their positive impact was greater when working together compared to alone, the scientists found.

Bees help with pollination to support coffee bean production, while birds help with pest control.

Researchers tested different scenarios on coffee farms in Costa Rica to determine how the animals affected production when on their own and together - as well as what impact excluding these creatures from sites had.

The natural environment - where bees and birds were free to pollinate and eat pests - had the most positive impact on coffee production, the researchers found.

The combined effect on coffee production of birds and bees is greater when put together, scientists say (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Fruit set, fruit weight and fruit weight uniformity - which affect the quality and price of coffee - were all better off when the creatures were allowed to work together than on their own, according to the study.

Alejandra Martínez-Salinas, from the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Centre in Costa Rica, said the benefits of nature are usually worked out separately and then added together.

“But nature is an interacting system, full of important synergies and trade-offs,” she said.

“We show the ecological and economic importance of these interactions, in one of the first experiments at realistic scales in actual farms.”

The US and Latin American researchers found average yields dropped by nearly 25 per cent in the scenario with no birds and bees. This worked out at around $1,066 (£810) per hectare.

“These findings highlight that habitat enhancements to support native biodiversity can have multiple benefits for coffee, a valuable crop that supports rural livelihoods worldwide,” the study - published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - said.