Starbucks Innovation Farms will help make its coffee climate-proof

More than a decade ago Starbucks bought his first coffee farm in Costa Rica. Now the coffee giant has added two more to its portfolio.

The Seattle-based company said Thursday that it has invested in another farm in Costa Rica and the first in Guatemala, hoping to move closer to its goal of protecting its coffee supply from climate change.

Rising temperatures, frosts in Brazil, three consecutive years of La Nina and other extreme weather conditions have affected coffee production and put pressure on supply in recent years. For Starbucks, which buys 3% of the world's coffee, the shortage may mean a struggle to find Arabica beans – and higher prices for its customers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, consumer coffee prices have increased 18% over the past five years as of August.

“Frosts in Brazil have already impacted volumes by up to 50%, so we could have a really serious impact on product availability, and that's becoming more common across the coffee belt,” said Roberto Vega, Starbucks vice president of global coffee cultivation, research and development and sustainability.

The coffee belt is the equatorial region with ideal conditions for growing coffee beans.

At the two new farms, Starbucks will study how hybrid coffee varieties perform at different altitudes and soil conditions. Characteristics of the hybrid plants include higher productivity and resistance to coffee leaf rust, a fungus that thrives in higher temperatures and rainfall.

“We can develop new hybrids, but the fact that a hybrid works in one country and under certain conditions does not mean that it will work everywhere,” Vega said.

Vega's team also hopes to address other challenges facing coffee farmers that are not the direct result of climate change.

For example, the company's new Guatemalan farm is small, the soil is depleted, and productivity is low. Starbucks hopes to turn things around by restoring its soil and then using those insights to teach other farmers to do the same.

“The farm isn’t necessarily in good condition and that’s exactly what we were looking for. We wanted a farm that truly reflected the challenges farmers face today,” Vega said.

At its second farm in Costa Rica, located next to the existing Hacienda Alsacia, Starbucks plans to use drones, mechanization and other technologies to address the labor shortage facing many Latin American farmers.

Starbucks eventually plans to purchase two more farms in Africa and Asia, expanding its agricultural portfolio across the coffee belt.