News

WCR’s breeders have selected the founding population for World Coffee Research’s robusta breeding program, and trees are now being multiplied for distribution to seven countries in early 2027

Dr. Jennifer “Vern” Long has been named to Forbes’ 2026 50 Over 50 list in the Impact category, recognizing her work uniting 200+ companies, 30 countries, and 11 governments around the coffee industry’s first globally coordinated variety development program.

A first-of-its-kind cupping to deliver the coffee our industry needs

In April, World Coffee Research (WCR) facilitated a cross-continental knowledge exchange, bringing Ugandan coffee scientists to Colombia for training on advanced propagation and high functioning seed systems. Uganda is Africa’s largest coffee exporter and has set an ambitious goal to increase national production to 20 million bags by 2030. Reaching that target will require high-yielding, resilient plants, stronger nurseries, and reliable systems that can move improved varieties into farmers’ fields at scale.

New investment focuses on creating high-efficiency molecular breeding tools to reduce the decades-long timeline currently required to deliver new coffee varieties to farmers. This research will identify genetic markers for devastating pests and diseases, including coffee leaf rust, coffee berry disease, coffee fruit rot, and coffee berry borer.