News and knowledge

The East African Breeding Hub (EABH) was established in 2018 by World Coffee Research (WCR), participating countries, and the hub host, the Rwanda Agriculture Board (RAB) in order to support the next generation of coffee varieties for East Africa and to sustain the industry’s genetic and breeding pools not only in Rwanda but also across the region. In 2020, the EABH focused on breeding material evaluation, introducing molecular approaches, and organizing workshops for the region’s coffee breeders.

Indonesian coffee farmers and professionals interested in using agroforestry to support climate resilience have a new tool at their disposal: The Shade Catalog. Available in both English and Bahasa, the Catalog helps farmers select shade trees that are good for coffee, support and diversify household incomes and provide benefits to wildlife and ecosystem services. The Shade Catalog is available in a mobile-friendly online format and free download at shadecoffee.org.

Smallholder coffee farmers face many challenges, from the unpredictability wrought by the climate crisis to aging trees. A critical but less visible challenge is coffee’s lack of an organized seed sector—farmers have few guarantees that their seeds are genetically pure or healthy. In 2019, WCR joined the Maximizing Opportunities in Coffee and Cacao in the Americas (MOCCA) project, funded by USDA and led by Technoserve, enabling us to expand our seed sector work in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru.

WCR has unveiled its new strategy for the next five years, which prioritizes supporting origin diversity in the face of the climate crisis through the acceleration of innovations in coffee agriculture.

Coffee has been grown in Australia since the 1800s, though never in a commercial capacity. But the country is capable of producing specialty coffee, and is now participating in research trials with WCR.