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Hanna Neuschwander
hanna@worldcoffeeresearch.org
503-560-7828
COFFEE RUST IS GOING TO RUIN YOUR MORNING
In this article from The Atlantic, Maryn McKenna discusses the history and current challenges for farmers of the disease coffee leaf rust — but it is also a story about larger changes impacting coffee farmers and the entire value stream: climate change, shifts in the way research gets done, coffee’s limited genetic diversity, and more. The story illuminates many of the ways the world is changing, and urgently so — and how coffee agriculture needs to change if it is going to have a shot at thriving in the rest of this century.
It starts with a seed—but what seed is it?
WCR undertook crucial work in 2019 to advance our Nursery Development Program. Before nursery training programs begin, program workers typically conduct a baseline assessment of the seed and nursery production systems in a location. In 2019, WCR conducted seed sector analyses in countries with particularly difficult and disorganized seed production systems, including Mexico and the Philippines. The findings pave the way for a better future.
Tim Schilling is 2020 SCA Sustainability Champion
This week, Tim Schilling, founder of World Coffee Research and president of WCR Europe, received the 2020 Sustainability Award from the Specialty Coffee Association in the Sustainability Champion category. The winners will be honored at the digital version of Re:co Symposium on Thursday, July 16, at 11:15 a.m. Pacific time.
WATCH: ‘Unlocking Sustainability’s Collaborative Advantage’
On June 21, WCR hosted the webinar “Unlocking Sustainability’s Collaborative Advantage,” which covered what it means to build a strategic sustainability portfolio and explored some of the difficulties and opportunities therein.
Battling climate change using creative and cost-effective methods in Uganda
As a child, Ivan Ssembajwe, a young coffee farmer from the plush countryside of Luwero, Uganda, would keenly watch his grandmother and mother tilling the land day in and day out to grow crops for sustenance and income. With every changing season and passing year, Ivan’s fascination and passion for coffee farming grew as he observed the humble coffee seedlings flourish into mature trees bursting with crimson cherries.
