Which choice most logically completes the text?

Question

Coffee bushes grown under a canopy of shade trees yield less per acre than bushes bred for full sun. But shade farms host dozens of insect-eating bird species that open-sky plantations lack, and studies in Central America found that where these birds forage, coffee berry borer beetles — the crop's costliest pest — are markedly scarcer. Shade growers also spend noticeably less on insecticide for comparable harvests, which suggests that ____

Accepted Answer

A. the birds supply some of the pest control that chemicals provide on sun-exposed farms.. Shade farms host insect-eating birds and use less insecticide for comparable harvests — implying the birds are doing work that sun farms buy as chemicals.

Answer

B. coffee grown in the sun has a stronger flavor. — Flavor is never discussed in the text.

Answer

C. shade trees compete with coffee plants for water. — Competition for water is never mentioned, and the text presents shade as beneficial.

Answer

D. insect outbreaks are rare on all coffee farms. — The text says borer beetles are a costly problem, so outbreaks are clearly not rare.

Information and Ideas practice question

Answer: A. the birds supply some of the pest control that chemicals provide on sun-exposed farms.

Why the other answers are wrong

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