Starbucks, Conservation International team up to support coffee farmers
Coffee-growing regions around the world are struggling to maintain the quality and supply of coffee in the face of aging trees, diseases such as coffee rust, and volatile markets.
These impacts – all of them exacerbated by climate change – are becoming more pronounced. Supporting farm adaptation through the renovation of coffee plants with varieties selected based on their performance under extreme climatic conditions is an important way to ensure the future of coffee for all.
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What is renovation?
Renovation – replacing aging coffee trees with new, climate-resilient ones – is essential for keeping farms healthy and productive. By restoring yields within existing farmland, renovation enables farmers to meet production needs without expanding into surrounding lands – including forests – to achieve the same output.
100 Million Trees
For nearly 30 years, Conservation International and Starbucks have partnered to promote
In 2015, Starbucks teamed with Conservation International to make a bold commitment: For every bag of coffee sold in participating Starbucks stores in the United States between September 2015 and December 2016, one new rust-resistant coffee tree was provided to farmers in places most affected by coffee leaf rust, a plant fungus that damages the trees’ ability to produce. Recognizing the program’s positive impact, Starbucks expanded the effort and in 2017 committed to deliver 100 million healthy coffee trees to the hands of farmers in Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala by 2025.
100.6M
coffee seedlings
delivered to date
49.9K
farming families
reached across El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico
30.2K
hectares
impacted by new seedlings – equivalent to 56,534 football fields, based on an average of 3,330 coffee trees per hectare.
27
suppliers
This project involves a network of 19 nurseries and 27 suppliers
Ensuring protection for nature and people
Coffee varieties selected based on their performance under extreme climatic conditions are a critical part of the sector's effort to help farmers adapt to climate change.
As a partner in this effort, Conservation International has worked with Starbucks to put in place the following safeguards:
- Farmers agree not to plant the new coffee seedlings in natural forest areas.
- Farmers agree to maintain any existing native shade tree species unless they compete significantly with the coffee trees or pose a safety risk.
- Farmers acknowledge that the decision to participate in the program was made freely.
Conservation International monitors the program to ensure farmers receive high quality seedlings and to verify that the safeguards were understood and respected by farmers and supplier partners.
