News

A new study published today used modern genetics tools to trace the history of the Coffea arabica species, the most common and economically important commercial coffee crop species worldwide. Researchers confirmed the significantly likelihood that C. arabica derived from a single speciation event, a spontaneous coupling of individuals of two different species—Coffea canephora and Coffea eugenioides—that brought together the two genomes to create a new species.

World Coffee Research is pleased to announce the appointment of George Kotch to the position of Research Director. The position is the senior scientific leadership position at the collaborative research nonprofit, responsible for leading WCR’s global research portfolio and building partnerships.

This week, global green coffee supplier Mercon Coffee Group announced a long-term partnership with World Coffee Research. With the announcement, Mercon becomes the only green coffee supplier to fill a seat on the WCR’s current board of directors, funding both WCR’s full portfolio of agricultural research and development activities and carrying out collaborative, on-farm research initiatives in Nicaragua and Honduras.

World Coffee Research is seeking consultants for four projects related to the MOCCA program, covering Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Peru. Submissions are due January 24.

Researchers and students from CIRAD and CATIE, with funding from World Coffee Research, spent nearly a year taking exhaustive measurements of the movement of rust spores in a coffee agroforestry research site at CATIE in Turrialba, Costa Rica.