Our Work

We drive innovation to ensure origin diversity.

Our work is purpose-driven, not academic. We focus on research with the potential to dramatically improve coffee productivity, coffee quality, climate resilience, and farmer livelihoods. We work in strategic geographies that support the continued competitiveness of diverse coffee origins, and work in deep partnership with national and international partners.

Research Areas

We focus on varieties and knowledge.

The seed is where it all begins. So that's where we begin, too. The coffee plant is the most important technology in the coffee value stream—creating billions of dollars of economic value globally and supporting hundreds of millions of livelihoods, from farmers to baristas. We work urgently with our partners to make better plants available and accessible to farmers.

Breeding
10–30 years to impact in farmer fields

Breeding

Today’s coffee varieties are no match for the threats of the 21st century, but breeding innovation severely lags other crops. We support our partners to apply modern breeding approaches to create better varieties that meet farmer and consumer demand.

Field & Quality Trials
7–15 years to impact in farmer fields

Field & Quality Trials

Farmers need varieties that perform better than what they already have. Through our international network of trials, we test both existing and new varieties in the field and in the cup, we support the creation and diffusion of better plants that meet farmers’ and roasters’ needs.

Nurseries & Seed Value Chains
1–7 years to impact in farmer fields

Nurseries & Seed Value Chains

Creating the best variety in the world doesn’t matter if farmers can’t access it. But today, most farmers don’t know what varieties they have, and don’t have access to better. We work to make better plants available and accessible to farmers by strengthening seed systems, deploying new tools, purifying seed lots, and training nurseries.

Global Leadership
1–3 years

Global Leadership

WCR drives a strategy to enhance the stability and quality of world production. Each year, we consolidate and elevate research on key topics and shared concerns of the global coffee industry.

Our Strategy

Enhancing country competitiveness to bolster origin diversity.

In 2021–2025, our strategic aim is to preserve origin diversity in the face of the climate crisis by accelerating innovation for coffee agriculture to enhance the productivity, profitability, and quality of coffee across major market segments in multiple, strategically targeted countries.

Our 2021–2025 Strategy

We will achieve this aim through an agricultural R&D program that advances three interconnected objectives:

Read the full strategy here

Objective 1

Enhance the productivity of climate-resilient coffee production in order to increase farmer profitability, the linchpin of farmer economic sustainability

Objective 2

Improve the quality potential of coffee trees for different market segments (from commercial to premium to specialty, encompassing both arabica and robusta)

Objective 3

Mitigate supply chain risk by enhancing the competitiveness of strategically selected countries from the Americas, East Africa and Asia and driving an innovation agenda toward climate goals

Global Reach

We address common challenges.

Across the globe, farmers and coffee research institutions require better tools, methods, and knowledge to enhance the stability and quality of coffee production. We share openly with the global community.