Starbucks Strengthens Global Specialty Coffee Supply: Openly Shares More Than a Decade of Research, Verifies 99% of Coffee Et...
April 09 2015 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Introduces Five New Rust-Resistant Coffee Tree
Varietals and Donates Thousands of Seeds to Costa Rican Coffee
Institute
In 2015, 99% of Starbucks Coffee Supply Chain
Verified as Ethically Sourced; Largest Coffee Retailer to Achieve
Milestone Through Partnership with Conservation International
Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ:SBUX) today announced critical
advancements in research and transparency benefiting the entire
specialty coffee industry as part of the evolution of its
comprehensive ethical sourcing program and support of the
sustainability of the specialty coffee industry. The company will
make a decade of agronomy research available for commercialization
in collaboration with the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (ICAFE).
This research, combined with Starbucks far-reaching blueprint for
transparent and sustainable sourcing, benefits more than a million
farmers and workers around the world. By sharing this work with the
industry, Starbucks will broaden its impact on the 25 million
people across the globe who rely on coffee for their
livelihoods.
“The growth of specialty coffee is unprecedented and the
pressure this puts on the global coffee industry is both a
challenge and an opportunity,” said Craig Russell, executive vice
president of Global Coffee for Starbucks. “Reaching our ethical
sourcing milestone shows that it can be done and coupling this with
our research advancements, we believe we are defining a sustainable
way forward for our industry. We have been committed to farmers for
over forty years and will continue to find ways to bring social,
environmental and economic advancements to them so that we can
ensure that there is a future for farmers and our industry.”
In 2004 Starbucks opened its first Farmer Support Center in
Costa Rica allowing agronomists and quality experts to work
alongside farmers, sharing tools and information to help them
increase the productivity and quality of coffee on their farms,
improving their livelihoods. From the beginning, Starbucks
agronomists have partnered with other industry experts to develop
Arabica coffee varietals that offer a high-quality taste in cup,
productivity and disease resistance. This work has become even more
critical in recent years as variable weather conditions increases
incidences of coffee leaf rust or “roya” in parts of Latin
America.
In 2015, Starbucks will donate thousands of seedlings from five
different coffee tree hybrids developed through its research to
ICAFE which will then be verified in different regions of Costa
Rica most impacted by these challenging conditions. Established in
1933, ICAFE is a leading coffee development organization
responsible for research and the transferring of technology. This
research will also be registered at the National Seed Office and
ICAFE will make them available for commercialization in the coming
years. This milestone with ICAFE is one aspect of Starbucks ongoing
research commitments that include work with the World Coffee
Research Institute and Promecafe.
“We have been working closely with Starbucks for many years and
have seen firsthand their commitment to helping the specialty
coffee farming community thrive in the face of adversity,” said
Ronald Peters, Executive Director of ICAFE. “This varietal research
is essential to the long-term stability of farmers around the world
and demonstrates how this company has the unique opportunity to use
its scale to offer sourcing, agronomy and financial support so that
future generations can be proud to be a part of coffee
farming.”
In addition to the advancements in agronomy, in 2015 Starbucks
has verified 99% of its coffee as ethically sourced. For over 15
years, Starbucks has worked with Conservation International to
design a rigorous set of methods to ensure environmental and social
best practices are used in growing and processing coffee. To date,
more than a million farmers and workers on four continents have
benefited by participating in Coffee and Farmer Equity (C.A.F.E.)
Practices.
“Our work with Starbucks didn’t happen overnight. It has been a
fifteen-year journey learning how to embed sustainable practices
into their sourcing structure so that coffee can be good for people
and the planet,” said John Buchanan, interim Senior Vice President
and Senior Director, Sustainable Food and Agriculture Markets of
Conservation International. “The milestone of Starbucks ethically
sourcing 99% of their coffee cannot be underestimated and, in fact,
makes it possible to consider that coffee could be the world’s
first sustainably sourced commodity.”
To date, Starbucks has invested more than $70 million in its
comprehensive approach to ethical sourcing, supporting coffee
farming communities, mitigating the impact of climate change, and
supporting long-term crop stability and farm sustainability. This
includes a network of six farmer support centers around the world
(Rwanda, Tanzania, Colombia, China, Costa Rica and Ethiopia),
a commitment to provide $20 million in farmer financing in the form
of short- and long-term loans, as well as the purchase of a farm in
Costa Rica acting as a global agronomy center.
To learn more about Starbucks commitments, you can find its 2014
Global Responsibility Report here:
http://news.starbucks.com/news/starbucks-2014-global-responsibility-report
To learn more about Starbucks work with Conservation
International, information can be found here:
http://www.conservation.org/partners/pages/starbucks.aspx
About Starbucks
Since 1971, Starbucks Coffee Company has been committed to
ethically sourcing and roasting high-quality Arabica coffee. Today,
with stores around the globe, the company is the premier roaster
and retailer of specialty coffee in the world. Through our
unwavering commitment to excellence and our guiding principles, we
bring the unique Starbucks Experience to life for every customer
through every cup.
Starbucks Coffee CompanyHaley Drage,
206-318-7100press@starbucks.com
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