World Coffee Research

World Coffee Research CEO

World Coffee Research names new CEO

World Coffee Research (WCR) has appointed Dr Jennifer “Vern” Long as the new Chief Executive Officer of the organisation. Long most recently held the position of Director of the Office of Agricultural Research and Policy at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
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coffee blockchain

BeanLedger improves coffee traceability with blockchain

BeanLedger is using Blockchain to improve traceability throughout the coffee industry, and People of Coffee is leading the charge to support it. When Amelia Franklin entered the coffee industry in 2006, she did so because she viewed it as an opportunity to make a living while making a positive contribution.  She operated as Amelia Franklin Coffee Roaster for 12 years, and in 2018, began the company’s transition to People of Coffee in Bellingen, New South Wales, to better reflect its community values. 
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No death to coffee

No death to coffee

Imagine the day coffee shops around the country place a ‘closed indefinitely’ sign on their shop door. Imagine the end of the World Barista Championship when there’s no longer any quality coffee to showcase, or replacing your morning coffee with a green smoothie.  The idea of a world without coffee is incomprehensible to many, but possible, with studies already predicting that by 2050 demand will double while suitable land for coffee production will be half of what it is today. 
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Single O and World Coffee Research bring climate-resilient coffee to Australia

Single O has joined with World Coffee Research (WCR) to launch the No Death to Coffee project, will see the roaster introduce three new climate-resilient WCR-bred coffees to Australia. “We’re passionate about supporting all innovations that will lead to more stability for coffee producers and future-friendly varieties like Starmaya are set to enhance farmer livelihoods. We can’t wait to share it with the Australian coffee community,” Single O Director of Coffee Wendy De Jong says.
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WCR says genetic resistance to leaf rust could be gone within five years

World Coffee Research (WCR) has announced that fighting coffee leaf rust through genetic resistance won’t be enough to protect farmers from significant crop losses. Coffee leaf rust has wreaked havoc on coffee production, particularly in Latin America, since an epidemic hit in 2012.Some farms lost 50 to 80 per cent of their production, and the epidemic forced 1.7 million people out of work. The global coffee industry has since united to help farmers fight coffee leaf rust through the development of improved coffee varieties such as F1 hybrids, most of which are resistant to rust and other plant diseases.
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Cultivating quality coffee in Australia

In January 2017, 72 cultured seedlings of three different coffee varieties arrived from Florida at Southern Cross University (SCU) in Lismore, New South Wales, in sterile tubes.  The carefully facilitated seedling transfer was part of World Coffee Research’s (WCR) International Multi-location Variety Trial, an effort to facilitate the global exchange of the world’s best coffee varieties. WCR gathered 35 top-performing coffee varieties from 11 suppliers around the world and had them replicated in sterile culture by a Florida propagator, The varieties, with about 50,000 plantlets, were distributed to 23 coffee growing countries for planting on more than 60 test plots. One of those countries was Australia.
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World Coffee Research’s family reunion

For centuries, families have traced their long lines of heritage, often discovering siblings they never knew existed and distant cousins to add to their Christmas card list.  Over the past two years, scientists and researchers from World Coffee Research’s (WCR) collaborative research and development program have been documenting coffee’s family tree. They have compiled data about the main Arabica coffee varieties grown by farmers around the world and aggregated the information into a global cataglogue.
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Louis Dreyfus Co donates US$50K to World Coffee Research

Global agricultural goods merchant Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) has announced a US$50,000 donation (about A$64,500) to World Coffee Research (WCR) to boost coffee sustainability and support coffee farmers. WCR is a non-profit collaborative research and development program of the global coffee industry to grow, protect, and enhance supplies of quality coffee while improving the livelihoods of the families who produce it.
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