Regenerative quality will be one of the big themes of 2026, according to illycaffè Chairman Andrea Illy, who says measurement ‘from soil to cup’ will become the competitive standard.
The year 2025 marked the 10th anniversary of the Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award. What began as a celebration of excellence has evolved into a platform for “sustainable quality”, honouring growers while sharing the agronomic knowledge that makes quality and resilience rise together. Convening the community at FAO in Rome underlined a few simple truths. Field evidence throughout the years showed that regenerative transitions can reduce input intensity while improving quality. At the same time, AI is moving from pilots to practice, with climate-suitability layers, early-warning tools, and in-field decision support that start guiding day-to-day choices for growers.
In 2026 our focus will be to scale what works. We will deepen direct sourcing and capacity-building through education, accelerate the adoption of regenerative practices across our supply network and expand the use of AI. On the consumer side, we will continue to connect taste with origin, explaining why better agronomy delivers better coffee.
The theme that will define the year ahead is regenerative quality. This is not a trade-off but a convergence: healthier soils, smarter inputs, and systemic biodiversity produce cups of higher consistency and refinement, while strengthening resilience to climate variability. Measurement ‘from soil to cup’ will become the competitive standard of the future.
The greatest challenges will be volatility and uncertainty. Climate shocks, geopolitical tensions, currency swings, and regulatory shifts will continue to test supply chains. The response must be agility: diversified origins, robust traceability, transparent partnerships with growers, and rapid decision-making enabled by data.
My hope for 2026 is market stabilisation to guarantee remunerative levels for farmers, especially smallholders, without destructive price spikes and collapses. A more predictable environment, combined with education and practical tools, will unlock investment in adaptation at scale. If we align agronomy, technology, and long-term collaboration, coffee can remain what it has always aspired to be: a daily pleasure that sustains people, places, and biodiversity.
