WCR member companies renew $10 million commitment to sustain coffee supplies

World Coffee Research (WCR) announced today that the global industry made a renewed $10 million commitment to its worldwide coffee breeding and seed sector strengthening programs. WCR’s 190+ member companies in 29 countries are calling on governments to join the industry in agricultural R&D investment for coffee to enhance productivity and prosperity for farmers, reduce the environmental footprint of coffee agriculture, and sustain choice for consumers.

Coffee commodity prices are at 50-year highs due to production challenges, reflecting an urgent need for new technologies and innovations that help farmers tackle the combined challenges of extreme weather, pests, and disease. For stable supplies, coffee businesses rely on the success of coffee farmers around the world—but too many of those farmers are stuck without good choices for what plants to grow. There is wide consensus that investments in agricultural R&D can produce significant and transformational long-term benefits for farmers, industry, and national economies. WCR has calculated that globally coffee faces a large gap—$452 million USD each year—in funding for agricultural R&D.

The coffee industry is working to change that. Multi-year commitments from WCR’s member companies have helped launch two global coffee breeding networks for arabica and robusta that together include the participation and collaboration of 11 producing countries, which export 43% of the world’s coffee. These networks are creating the next generation of coffee varieties that will ensure stable supplies from diverse origins and are on track to deliver 100 improved arabica varieties by 2030, with robusta to follow.

“As a family-owned American company for over 105 years, Community Coffee understands the critical importance of investing in agricultural innovation to protect the future of our business, advance prosperity for farmers, and deliver sustainability and quality for our customers. Our company and our 200+ fellow WCR member companies are proud to be investing in the future of coffee. We look forward to partnering with the U.S. and other governments around the world to bring this vision to reality,” says Matt Saurage, Chairman of Community Coffee based in Louisiana.

In particular, coffee companies are calling on governments to join the industry and co-invest in agricultural R&D and coffee seed systems that help farmers access better varieties, which are crucial for delivering the benefits of agricultural innovation.

“For decades we have invested in pre-competitive research and development so that coffee farmers can be resilient to the challenges of climate change,” said Monique Oxender, chief corporate affairs officer at Keurig Dr Pepper and member of the board of directors of WCR. “There is still more to be done, and public-private partnership can help to close coffee’s long-standing innovation investment gap, bring new solutions to scale, and protect millions of livelihoods.”

There has been a rising tide of public commitments in support of coffee R&D and other investments to enhance agricultural productivity in coffee and support smallholder livelihoods. In 2024, G7 countries endorsed the importance of public sector involvement for “activating investments in public goods like research and development, policy reforms, and support to smallholder farmers.” Also in 2024, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) committed $5.4 million USD to a strategic partnership between Cornell University and WCR to develop tools to enhance the effectiveness, speed, and impact of coffee breeding efforts. The German development agency GIZ has committed €1.2 million to strengthen the capacity of the Ethiopian national coffee breeding program and two other donor governments are expected to join the effort.

William “Bill” Murray, President and CEO of the National Coffee Association (NCA), says, “NCA and WCR have long partnered to champion investments in agricultural research and innovation as a high priority in securing sustainable supplies of America’s favorite beverage. There is no coffee without thriving coffee farmers and healthy coffee plants, so investments like these are critical for the 63% of American adults who enjoy coffee every day and for the 2.2 million U.S. jobs created by the coffee sector.”

WCR’s 190+ member companies in 29 countries drive the nonprofit research organization’s collaborative, global R&D agenda to create the future of coffee. In 2025, members renewed their commitments to WCR, together pledging over $10 million to the organization through 2027. Of these, ten member companies notably made three-year commitments: Coffein Compagnie, Counter Culture Coffee, Intelligentsia Coffee, JDE Peet's, The J.M. Smucker Co., Keurig Dr Pepper, Starbucks Coffee, Sucafina Group, Taylors of Harrogate, and Tchibo.