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The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) has joined the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Coffee and Cacao (CCIL), a multi-year international research program aimed at improving the resilience, productivity and sustainability of coffee and cacao production worldwide. UC Davis will participate as a subrecipient in the initiative, which is funded through a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of State and led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, with Clemson University serving as co-lead.
The university’s contribution will be delivered through the UC Davis Coffee Center and the Mars Plant Science Center, in collaboration with the Department of Plant Sciences. Project lead and principal investigator at UC Davis Irwin R. Donis-Gonazález says the university will combine research expertise in post-harvest engineering, chemical analysis and sensory evaluation to strengthen coffee production and processing practices.
“As an integral part of the UH Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Coffee and Cacao, the UC Davis Coffee Center will integrate advanced postharvest engineering, chemical profiling and expert sensory evaluation to identify practices that strengthen coffee production and processing,” he says.
“In partnership with coffee producers and stakeholders in Hawaiʻi, the continental U.S. and abroad, UC Davis will refine methodologies, deliver actionable data, train producers and share findings, empowering informed decisions, elevating coffee quality, and advancing sustainability across the supply chain.”
The CCIL will work with smallholder producers in Hawaiʻi, the continental United States, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Research priorities include developing coffee and cacao varieties with improved resistance to disease and drought, enhancing farm management and post-harvest practices, and strengthening research capacity in producing countries. Through the Mars Plant Science Center, UC Davis will also support the deployment of cacao production tools developed over two decades of research.
The technologies will be introduced to smallholder cooperatives and commercial producer groups in key cacao-growing regions, with adoption and impacts monitored through a collaboration led by Amanda Crump, Associate Professor of Teaching in International Agricultural Development at UC Davis.
Senior Scientist at Mars Ashley DuVal says the program would help expand access to tools, technologies and planting materials designed to improve cacao productivity and resilience.
“The Innovation Lab provides a powerful new means to help create tangible impact for cacao farmers in the U.S. as well as in cacao-growing regions around the world,” DuVal says.
The partnership brings together research institutions and industry organisations including Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Coffee Quality Institute, Mars, PlantVillage+, Synergistic Hawaiʻi Agriculture Council, and World Coffee Research. According to UC Davis, the program is intended to support a more resilient global supply of coffee and cacao, crops that remain critical to international agricultural economies and supply chains.
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Source: Online/GFMM
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