To build the facility, the US-based coffee retailer has entered into an agreement to purchase the 240ha Costa Rican farm through a subsidiary of Starbucks Coffee Trading, which will end in May 2013.The new research and development center on the farm will enable the company to expand its Coffee and Farming Equity (CAFE) practices, an entity formed in collaboration with Conservation International to check coffe quality and also promote social, environmental and economic standards.
Conservation International chairman and CEO Peter Seligmann said, "The convergence of climate change and ecosystem deterioration creates stress on the ability of farmers to produce crops."
The new R&D center will also enable the coffee chain to strengthen the climate change mitigation, long-term crop stability program, support its billion-dollar commitment to purchase 100% ethically sourced coffee by 2015 and develop new coffee blends.
Starbucks chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz said that this investment will open an opportunity for the company to create coffee varietals that can support the development of blends in the future.
The new facility will globally scale the work currently happening at five farmer support centers in Rwanda, Tanzania, Colombia, China and the first farmer support center in San Jose, Costa Rica.
