The United States will help Central American farmers fight coffee rust, a persistent fungus that has the potential to increase both coffee prices and crime rates.

The Associated Press reported that coffee rust has caused over $1 billion worth of damage in Central America. According to LiveScience, coffee rust (Hemileia vastatrix) "spreads easily through the air on spores. Once it infests a tree, it's virtually impossible to contain ... [producing] small, yellow spots on the underside of coffee leaves." Eventually, this becomes a rusty red color, the leaves fall off and the tree dies after a few years.

"The current coffee rust outbreak is the worst in Latin America's history," the U.S. Agency for International Development said in a statement, according to LiveScience. "It is estimated that production will fall by as much as 15-40 percent in the coming years."

On Monday, Raj Shah, head of USAID, announced a partnership with the World Coffee Research center of Texas A&M that costs $5 million.

"We are concerned because we know coffee rust is already causing massive amounts of devastation," he said.

Coffee rust has particularly affected Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. The United States government worries that if small farms in these countries crumble, the side effects will include drug trafficking, hunger, violence and poverty.

"Coffee rust threatens more than your morning coffee-it affects jobs, businesses and the security of millions across the Americas," Mark Feierstein, USAID associate administrator, said in a news release, according to Wall Street Journal. "We must tackle this outbreak to ensure farmers and laborers have stable incomes, don't start growing illicit crops, or be forced to migrate because they can no longer support their families."

As many as 500,000 jobs are at risk because of coffee rust.

"We don't see an end in sight anytime soon," Leonardo Lombardini of Texas A&M's World Coffee Research said.

The continued spread of coffee rust could also result in Americans paying "extraordinary high prices for those coffees, if you can find them at all," according to Ric Rhinehart, who works for Specialty Coffee Association of America.

"It's a little bit too soon to tell what the impact will be on supply and long term quality over time," Lindsey Bolger, head of Keurig Green Mountain coffee sourcing, told AP.

According to the BBC, Central America's particularly wet dry season in 2011-2012 helped coffee rust spread and mutate so it can survive at higher altitudes and infect even more plantations.
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Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter:@ScharHar.

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