COLLEGE STATION, TX, US – The World Coffee Research – WCR 2012-2013 Annual Report is at press and soon will be mailed out. Until that time, an electronic version is available. WCR activities, projects, and milestones are fully detailed.
Values
World Coffee Research is an industry driven initiative to increase global supplies of coffee while leveling the playing field among the supply chain players to insure a fair and environmentally sound commodity sector for hundreds of years.
Its key values come from Norman Borlaug’s Institute for International Agriculture to alleviate world-wide poverty. WCR believes that:
- The ability to guide agriculture research in a socially and environmentally sound way makes it possible that everybody benefits and nobody or thing gets hurt
- Hard work and persistence will eventually get the job done no matter the obstacles
- Working together as a global family team with members from diverse backgrounds, livelihoods and disciplines will keep us honest and fair and allow us to deliver our promise above
Guiding Principles:
The key to achieving the objectives of the program is the following set of principles from the Borlaug Institute. These principles are the results of years of managing and conducting collaborative research and programs around the world on many different food and beverage commodities
- Everything we do MUST enhance the livelihoods of the producers who are the stewards of both quality and productivity. If we lose them, we lose the game and future of the industry.
- Research will be long-term, funded through grants of cooperative agreements between the Management Entity and lead institution representing a group of partner research institutions.
- Research proposals will be selected in open competition according to the bidders’ research team’s ability to address the identified constraints detailed in the RFP from mandates produced in the GCQRI 5-year research plan.
- Most research will be carried out within the origin countries with cup quality being evaluated by both US Industry and appropriate host country organizations through standards established by the SCAA and CQI.
- Each country project will develop the human and institutional capacity of research organizations in the countries where the research activities are being conducted. The institutional relationships established between the international and host country institutions are intended to be enduring and to transcend whatever the life of the project is.
- Research partners will employ a “holistic approach” in their research design and implementation, working collaboratively among several institutions, drawing on the expertise of several disciplines to solve identified constraints to agricultural problems, taking advantage of favorable agronomic and economic relationships among other enterprises in farm communities and enhancing environmental services.
- All GCQRI research projects will have an articulated results-delivery component to ensure that the results of the research reach the producers and produce the expected impact
Mission
To grow the Arabica coffee supply chain in a sustainable way through collaborative agricultural research and development.
Vision
To create a toolbox of coffee varieties, genetic resources and accompanying technologies and to disseminate them strategically and collaboratively in producing countries to alleviate current and future constraints to the supply chain of fine Arabica coffees
Approach
- Work directly with and expand the network of existing coffee research institutions and scientists in producing countries through collaborative research and training
- Identify key constraints to productivity and quality
- Bring the ‘best and brightest’ from other research sources like American Universities and the International Agricultural Research Centers
- Fund and conduct collaborative research on the identified production and quality constraints in origin countries
- Insure that the results get to the producers
The electronic version of the 2012-2013 Annual Report is available at this link.
Source: World Coffee Research
