Starbucks buys first coffee farm in Costa Rica

Starbucks, the world’s biggest coffee chain, said yesterday that it bought its first coffee farm, where it will harvest its own beans and research the leaf rust that is devastating Central American crops.

Starbucks has purchased an active farm on roughly 600 acres in Costa Rica, which it will convert to a global agronomy research and development center.

With the farm’s relatively low elevation, which ranges from 1,100 to 1,600 feet, the center will research the coffee rust fungus, which kills coffee leaves by sapping them of nutrients and lowering bean yields.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch