International coffee chain Starbucks has announced the expansion of its coffee innovation network, acquiring two farms in Costa Rica and Guatemala.
The Starbucks-operated farms will join Hacienda Alsacia in Costa Rica, which was bought by the company in 2013 as part of a global agronomy project. The goal of these farms is to find solutions to increase productivity, support increased profitability for farmers, and build climate resilience.
“Starbucks works with more than 450,000 farms that grow the highest quality Arabica coffee in the world,” says Michelle Burns, Starbucks EVP of Global Coffee and Sustainability.
“Our promise to those farmers and their communities is that we will always work to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all. Our solution is to develop on-farm interventions, share seeds, research and practices across the industry to help farmers mitigate the impacts of climate change.”
At Hacienda Alsacia, the company is working to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Creating best practices, it strives to make growing coffee more profitable, develop the next generation of disease-resistant plants, and share them with farmers around the world.
With climate change already impacting Arabica production in many growing regions, at the new farms Starbucks plans to study hybrid coffee varietals under different elevations and soil conditions, which it says is a critical step in the research of new genetic material.
The farm in Costa Rica will also explore the use of mechanisation, drones, and other technologies to help support labour availability challenges Latin American farmers currently face. In Guatemala, the farm will replicate a smallholder design with conditions that mirror challenges that many farms face.
“Through these innovation farms, we will develop solutions that will not only improve coffee productivity and quality but also empower farmers with the tools and knowledge needed to thrive in a changing world and challenging climate,” says Roberto Vega, Starbucks VP of Global Coffee Agronomy, R&D, and Sustainability.
“This work is done on behalf of coffee farmers everywhere with findings that can be applied across other industries and crops that are also impacted by climate change.”
The company also plans to invest in farms in Africa and Asia.
