WCR at the Global Coffee Expo, April 10-15
Think + Drink
Friday, April 12, 2pm
Room 210C
On the Friday of the show, April 12, WCR will host our annual
Think + Drink, this time with a special coffee tasting featuring coffee from one of our trials in El Salvador. WCR will give updates on our research findings from the past
year, as well as a preview of what’s to come in our global efforts to promote
sustainable coffee production. Alcoholic drinks will also be provided; generously sponsored by Beck Flavors.
All are welcome. Please arrive on time to ensure entry.
Re:Co talk
Wednesday, April 10, 11.10 am, Grand Ballroom A
Profitability from the Ground Up
Almost everywhere we go, we find that coffee farmers are shouldering all the risk in coffee production because there is little information on the best varieties and agricultural practices, no access to the right plants, or not enough knowledge on how to prepare for the next drought or epidemic. Because of these seemingly simple barriers, many farmers that could be profitable aren't. World Coffee Research, together with dozens of partners, is building an unprecedented network of global on-farm trials to discover which varieties and agricultural practices are most profitable for coffee producers around the world. The Global Coffee Monitoring Program addresses one of the most important decisions farmers make: Which plants and practices are right for my farm? For my climate? For my buyers? We'll explore the platform's aim to use rigorous, on-farm science to create a global data set that addresses the profitability of coffee farming from the ground up.
Re:Co talk
Thursday, April 11, 11.10 am, Grand Ballroom A
Unlocking Coffee’s Flavor Code
How does a living thing get to be the way it is? How does a coffee come to taste the way it does? How does the plant's blueprint for what's possible—it's genetics—interact with complex and changing environments to produce flavor in the cup? Hanna Neuschwander will describe a major global trial underway designed to help us understand how coffee genetics interact with the environment, and a new study that will let us see how these things impact coffee flavor and chemistry. She'll explore how we we harness that understanding to "make coffee better" and open up new avenues for farmer profitability.
Re:Co requires a separate registration that can be bought here.
Expo lecture
Saturday, April 13, 9 am, Room 251
Producers Ask, “What Variety Should I Plant?” WCR Answers
The first question any farmer, who has decided to farm coffee, has to ask is "What kind of coffee?" Should they plant Arabica or Robusta? If they want to plant Arabica, what variety? Where can they source seeds that are genetically pure? World Coffee Research is building infrastructure and the decision-making tool to help with these questions, and Kraig Kraft will break down the support WCR is offering these farmers -- and how it helps buyers, importers and roasters everywhere.
Expo lecture
Saturday, April 13, 11.30 am, Room 254A
Global Investment Opportunities In Coffee
The future of coffee remains uncertain. Coffee plants are aging and yielding fewer beans, and climate change is threatening the productivity of farms and increasing the risk of devastating diseases. Presently, coffee leaf rust has devastated Latin America’s small family farms. This fungal disease has caused more than $1 billion in crop losses in Central America and removed 1.7 million jobs across all of Latin America. Despite recurring challenges of coffee diseases, price volatility, and other constraints, global coffee consumption has grown by over 11 percent in the past four years and coffee investment opportunities, particularly in the specialty coffee market segment, are promising for producers and consumers. USDA Deputy Director Johanne Alerte-Reyes will host a panel discussion featuring, among others, WCR's Kraig Kraft, to brainstorm global investment opportunities through a series of thought-provoking questions.
Coffee tasting
Saturday, April 13, 4.15pm, Room 203
#DRCCoffee
Saveur du Kivu is offering some of amazing new coffees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo - come taste for yourself at their cupping session on Saturday. They're offering various fully-washed lakeside varieties from South Kivu, DRC.
Expo lecture
Sunday, April 14, 10.15 am, Room 253A
Genetic Improvement of Cup Quality: Latest Developments
World Coffee Research is working to improve the genetic potential of coffee cup quality. To start this task, one has to define what is quality. WCR believes it is a market driven definition and organized new protocols to assess quality from the perspective of the coffee industry. With experts and partners, WCR produced the coffee lexicon that allows an objective analytic description of coffee quality attributes. In our presentation, we will discuss these innovations and indicate lessons learned. Moreover, the latest results deriving from these methods and advances on the molecular basis of cup quality will be presented. In particular, the importance of some specific Volatile Compounds, such as Limonene, will be highlighted. Those results are not an end but a beginning; an opportunity for further studies to find out the molecular markers or genes related to cup quality in general. Hanna Neuschwander, Communications director, will present new work and perspectives for coffee industry.
SCA Store
WCR Variety Catalogs, Flavor Wheel posters, and more!
Don’t forget to stop by the on-site SCA Store at Expo to pick up a hot-off-the-presses copy of our Arabica Varieties Catalog ($24) or a copy of the Flavor Wheel poster. All sales directly support WCR’s research.
Other lectures of interest
SCA is full of opportunities for learning. The following lectures
are ones that caught our eye. Find a full description of each lecture here:
Friday, April 12
A Two Part Arc About the C Market and the Future of Specialty Coffee
10:15-12:30, Room 253AGenetic Restriction on Coffee Quality in Brazil and Agronomic Institute (IAC) Contribution to Improve the Competitiveness
10:15, Room 254AAssessing and Addressing Profitability Constraints for Smallholder Coffee Producers in Yepocapa, Guatemala: Science Meets Application
2pm, Room 253BHow Many Coffee Farms Are There in the World?
2 pm, Room 252A
Saturday, April 13
The Future of Coffee: Building Long-Distance Relationships in Emerging Origins
9am, Room 253AThe Real Cost of Coffee Farming - and What Women are Doing About it
9 am, Room 252BClimate Hazards and Coffee Investments: What Does a Resilient Sector Look Like?
10.15am, Room 252BWho Defines Sustainability?
11.30, Room 253ASensory Analysis and Quality Grading: A Comparison
11.30, Room 254BLessons Learned From the Implementation of Coffee Hybrid Demonstration Plots in Three Central American Countries
TBD
Sunday, April 14
From Conflict to Coffee: Overcoming Barriers for Coffee Growers in the Democratic Republic of Congo
11.30am, Room 251