Starbucks announces expansion with two new coffee farms

The new farms are located in Guatemala and Costa Rica. 

Starbucks has announced the expansion of its collaborative coffee innovation network, adding two new farms located in Guatemala and Costa Rica with future farm investments in Africa and Asia. 

The coffee giant aims to find solutions to increase productivity on farms, support increased profitability for farmers, and build climate resilience. 

The new farms in Costa Rica and Guatemala will both study hybrid coffee varieties under different elevations and soil conditions, which is a critical step in the research of new genetic material. 

The farm in Costa Rica, located next to Hacienda Alsacia, will also be designed to explore the use of mechanisation, drones, and other technologies to help support labour availability challenges that farmers in Latin America are facing. 

In Guatemala, the farm in the Antigua Valley will replicate a smallholder farming design with conditions that mirror the challenges that many farms face today. 

“Our promise to those farmers and their communities is that we will always work to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all,” said Michelle Burns, Starbucks EVP of Global Coffee and Sustainability. 

“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,” Burns added. 

Starbucks buys 3% of the world’s coffee, sourcing and roasting only Arabica coffee beans.