Starmaya Coffee Hybrid Could ‘Reshape Coffee’

Starmaya is a new coffee hybrid developed by CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development) that will soon begin field tests under the direction of ECOM Agroindustrial Corp. and World Coffee Research.

It is the first variety of its kind: An F1 hybrid that is propagated by seed, rather than costly biotechnology. The innovation will give growers access to an elite class of varieties that could dramatically reshape the industry.

F1 hybrids have the potential to combine traits that matter most to farmers—higher yields and disease resistance—with the trait that matters most to consumers—taste, a combination that has been difficult to attain in the past. But F1 hybrids are limited by a key constraint: Currently, they can only be produced by technically sophisticated nurseries. While “best in class,” almost no farmers have access to them. Starmaya may change that.

Learn more: worldcoffeeresearch.org