The world’s biggest coffee chain is trying to innovate its way around erratic weather.
What happened: Starbucks is buying two innovation-focused coffee farms in Costa Rica and Guatemala, part of the company’s push to create new coffee varieties that can withstand increasingly volatile weather conditions.
- Extreme weather in places like Brazil and Vietnam — which produce more than half of the world’s coffee — has left the entire industry scrambling to secure enough beans in recent years.
- As part of the effort to weatherproof its supply, Starbucks has developed six coffee varieties that are resistant to leaf rust — a coffee-killing disease that’s become more common in popular growing regions.
Why it matters: Coffee prices in Canada have already risen over 23% in the last four years. With volatile weather sending arabica bean prices to a 13-year high, experts say more cafes and retailers will be forced to raise their prices within six months.
- After drought-ridden harvests in Brazil and Vietnam this year, those price hikes are likely to continue into 2025.
Bottom line: Weatherproofing coffee crops could be one of the only ways to keep our beloved lattes from becoming a scarce (and even more expensive) commodity down the line.—LA