By
Julie Jargon
 |
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Starbucks bought
this 600-acre coffee farm in Costa Rica
to test best growing practices. Photo:
Courtesy of WSJ
|
Starbucks
Corp. has bought its first farm, with plans to use the 600-acre property in
Costa Rica to develop new coffee varieties and test methods to eradicate a
fungal disease known as coffee rust that is vexing the industry.
The Seattle-based coffee giant, which closed
on the purchase Friday, decided to buy the farm in part because its location
will allow testing of different growing methods, in order to understand what
makes coffee plants thrive at different elevations. The land ranges from 3,600
to 5,500 feet above sea level.
"We are talking about doing innovative
things we would not be able to do without this farm," said Starbucks Chief
Executive Howard Schultz, adding that he won't rule out the acquisition of more
such research farms. He wouldn't disclose the purchase price, but a person
familiar with the matter said farms of that size in Costa Rica generally fetch
$5 million to $10 million.
The new farm will enable Starbucks to develop
proprietary new coffee varieties through hybridization—but not genetic
modification—and different processing techniques. The farm will complement five
centers Starbucks operates around the world where agronomists work with local
farmers to increase their yields.
The purchase comes amid growing concern about
coffee rust in Latin America, where Starbucks buys the majority of its coffee.
The fungus's impact has reduced forecasts for coffee production for the next
growing season in much of the region, and caused Guatemala's president last
month to declare a national emergency.
Craig Russell, a Starbucks senior vice
president, said the company has secured a sufficient supply of coffee
unaffected by the fungus from its farmers in the region for the latest harvest
and the next one. "It's a dynamic situation and we will absolutely use
this farm for testing different methodologies and ways to use new types of
coffee trees we've developed that have become more disease- and rust-resistant,"
he said.
Starbucks said it will share what it learns
with other farmers that aren't suppliers.
Coffee rust attacks coffee-tree leaves,
starving them of nutrients and eventually causing them to wither and fall off.
In the late 19th century the fungus devastated coffee production in Sri Lanka,
India, Sumatra and Java, but it hasn't been a huge nuisance to Latin American
farmers until this year and scientists aren't exactly sure why, according to
John Vandermeer, an ecology professor at the University of Michigan.
Mr. Russell said drier than normal weather
this season in Latin America could be partly to blame.
Starbucks has long had agronomists working
with farmers around the globe to address ways to ensure viable crops amid
changes in climate, and this will help company researchers study the topic
further.
"What Starbucks is doing is taking a
proactive approach to understanding the impact of climate shifts on production
and disease," says Peter Seligmann, Chief Executive of Conservation
International, a non-profit that has helped Starbucks develop criteria for
growing coffee in socially, environmentally and economically responsible ways.
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