TAM-PrimaryMarkA
US
The Texas A&M University recently decided to create a dedicated research center to advance study into coffee with the goals of improved quality and sustainability throughout the global supply.
The Center for Coffee Research and Education, part of the Norman Borlaug Institute for International Agriculture, “will seek to make rapid gains in research to sustain and grow the world’s coffee supply,” Dr. Craig Nessler, director of Texas A&M AgriLife Research, said in an announcement.
Borlaug Institute researchers already have studied coffee research through the institute’s association with the industry-supported coffee research nonprofit organization World Coffee Research, which is currently overseeing multiple programs and research initiatives designed to better understand and protect existing coffee varieties, and to protect the viability of quality arabica coffee in the short-, long- and extra-long-terms.
Coffee is the primary income source for more than 100 million people worldwide, Dr. Nessler said. The industry has a retail value estimated at $30-32 billion for the United States alone, reaching $170 billion worldwide.
The industry is confronted with problems such as diseases, narrow genetic diversity, climate change and an ever-increasing global demand have experts predicting a difficult future for coffee producers.
“Coffee has suffered from a lack of advanced research in areas like genetics and disease resistance,” said Dr. Tim Schilling, executive director of World Coffee Research.