Starbucks’ Guatemala coffee farm in the Antigua Valley | Photo credit: Starbucks

Starbucks has invested in two coffee farms in Guatemala and Costa Rica as part of plans to strengthen its coffee supply chain and provide farmers with the resources to protect their crops from extreme weather events amid the climate emergency. 
 

Starbucks currently purchases around 3% of the world’s arabica coffee from more than 450,000 farmers across 30 countries. Despite its huge purchasing power, Starbucks faces a growing challenge to supplying its more than 39,000 stores globally, particularly as extreme weather continues impact yields in the world’s largest coffee producer, Brazil. 

The Guatemala and Costa Rica farms add to the Seattle-based coffee chain’s company-owned Hacienda Alsacia coffee farm in Costa Rica, which it acquired in 2013. With plans to further invest in coffee farms in Africa and Asia, Starbucks is seeking to develop a ‘collaborative coffee innovation network’ – which it said will undertake ‘groundbreaking global agronomy innovation’ and find solutions to increase productivity on farms, support increased profitability for farmers and build climate resilience. 
 

“Starbucks works with more than 450,000 farms that grow the highest quality Arabica coffee in the world. Our promise to those farmers and their communities is that we will always work to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all. 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,” said Michelle Burns, Executive Vice President of Global Coffee and Sustainability, Starbucks. 

Starbucks will study hybrid coffee varieties at both farms under different elevations and soil conditions. The farm in Costa Rica, located next to Hacienda Alsacia, will also explore the use of mechanisation, drones and other technologies to help support labour headwinds. Meanwhile, the Antigua Valley site in Guatemala will replicate a smallholder farm and mirror challenges currently facing farmers in the country. 

In June 2023, Starbucks unveiled plans to develop a new ‘sustainability learning and innovation lab’ at its Hacienda Alsacia site. The facility, which will break ground in December 2024, will provide ‘hands-on and virtual learning opportunities’ for Starbucks staff, students, researchers and industry leaders to develop solutions to improve adaptability and resilience in coffee agriculture. 

Starbucks also has 10 Farmer Support Centers located across Latin America, Africa and East Asia, where agronomists collaborate with farmers on research and best practices.