TL;DR
Get coffee and tea gear delivered free with Prime
- Fast, free delivery on millions of items
- Prime Video, Amazon Music and more included
- Member-only deals all year
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will lead a new U.S. Department of State-funded research program on coffee and cacao, with an initial $8 million obligation for its first year. The multi-institution effort is expected to study crop resilience, farm management and processing, but specific research sites and projects have not been announced.
The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will lead a new federal research program on coffee and cacao, backed by an initial $8 million obligation for its first year. Funded by the U.S. Department of State, the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Coffee and Cacao will bring together universities, industry groups and research organizations to address crop diseases, drought and other challenges facing producers.
The agreement could run for up to five years, according to the program announcement. Clemson University will co-direct the initiative. The “lab” is a multi-institution research program, not a new standalone facility. Research is expected to involve coffee- and cacao-producing regions in the United States, Latin America, Africa and Asia.
Listed participants include World Coffee Research and the Coffee Quality Institute, alongside UC Davis, Michigan State University, Ohio State University and Penn State. Mars, PlantVillage+ and the Synergistic Hawaiʻi Agriculture Council are also involved. The program’s stated priorities include breeding varieties better able to withstand disease and drought, improving farm management and post-harvest processing, and building research capacity in producing countries.
The program also expects to study the economics of agricultural research, with the goal of helping governments identify where investment could have the greatest impact. The State Department announced the Hawaii-led program on October 15 as one of eight Feed the Future Innovation Labs at U.S. universities. The source report says the initiative is launching this month.
Research Aimed at Farm-Level Risks
Coffee and cacao growers face pressure from crop disease, changing climate conditions and economic constraints. Research into more resilient varieties and production practices could help producers manage some of those risks, although the announcement does not specify particular results or a timetable for new varieties reaching farms.
The initiative has particular relevance in Hawaiʻi, the only U.S. state that commercially produces both coffee and cacao. Coffee leaf rust, first detected in Hawaiʻi in 2020, has since spread throughout the state. The Synergistic Hawaiʻi Agriculture Council estimates production at 20.7 million pounds for the 2025-26 season, compared with 23.3 million pounds in 2023-24. The council says production has declined each year since 2022 and attributes much of the drop to leaf rust.
The funding also adds a federal research program in a field that advocates say has lacked sufficient public investment. A 2023 World Coffee Research report estimated that the global coffee sector would need an additional $452 million annually for a decade in agricultural research and development to help maintain production diversity and quality. That estimate describes a wider funding need; it is not the budget for this lab.
coffee bean disease resistant variety
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
A New Funding Route for Coffee Research
Coffee organizations had spent years urging the U.S. government to support dedicated research. The Synergistic Hawaiʻi Agriculture Council says its administrator, Suzanne Shriner, and World Coffee Research began working with members of Congress in 2020 to make that case. In 2023, the council, World Coffee Research, the National Coffee Association and the Hawaii Coffee Association supported federal legislation intended to broaden funding for coffee plant-health research.
The new program also follows a disruption in the federal university research system. Feed the Future Innovation Labs had historically received funding through the U.S. Agency for International Development. After USAID was dismantled in 2025 under the Trump administration, the State Department became the funder for the newly announced group of labs, according to the source report.
Just months before USAID’s shutdown, the agency awarded Cornell a five-year cooperative agreement valued at $5.485 million for its Coffee Improvement Program with World Coffee Research. Federal award records show $1 million had been obligated before that award was terminated in 2025. In Hawaiʻi, a separate USDA award of more than $6 million went to the Synergistic Hawaiʻi Agriculture Council in 2021 for coordinated coffee leaf-rust research with university and federal scientists in Hawaiʻi and Puerto Rico.
“The Innovation Lab is designed to transform coffee and cacao science into practical benefits for small farmers in Hawaii, the continental U.S., and around the world.”
— Parwinder Grewal, dean of the UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience and the program’s principal investigator
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Sites and Projects Still Pending
The announcement does not identify the producing-country research sites, individual projects, or a detailed schedule for work across the participating institutions. It also does not provide a breakdown of the first-year $8 million obligation by partner or research priority. The agreement could last up to five years, but the source material does not establish that the full period or a particular total amount of funding is guaranteed.
Expected benefits, including improved crop resilience and stronger research capacity, are program aims rather than documented outcomes. The effects of the work on production, farmer incomes or disease losses cannot yet be measured. It is also unclear how this initiative will relate to, or differ in specific activities from, other ongoing coffee and cacao research programs.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Project Plans to Define the Work
The program is launching in October, and its participating institutions are expected to develop the research agenda and identify where work will take place. Further announcements about country sites, projects and partner responsibilities would clarify how the broad priorities will be put into practice.
As research proceeds, developments to watch include whether the program supports new disease- and drought-resistant varieties, how findings are shared with growers, and whether the first-year funding is followed by further federal obligations. No specific release dates for research results or later funding decisions have been announced in the source material.
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
Key Questions
What is the new Coffee and Cacao Innovation Lab?
It is a federally funded, multi-institution research program led by the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and co-directed by Clemson University. It is not described as a single new laboratory building.
How much funding has been committed?
The program has an initial $8 million obligation for its first year. The agreement could run for up to five years, but the source report does not give a total guaranteed amount across that period.
What will the researchers study?
Stated priorities include breeding coffee and cacao varieties with greater disease and drought resistance, farm management, post-harvest processing, research capacity in producing countries, and the economics of agricultural research investment.
Where will the research take place?
The program is expected to cover producing regions in the United States, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Specific country sites and individual projects have not yet been announced.
Why is Hawaiʻi involved?
Hawaiʻi is the only U.S. state that commercially produces both coffee and cacao, and its coffee industry is dealing with threats including coffee leaf rust. The state also has existing coffee research and agricultural partners.
Source: rss
Fall Picks
fall essentials
As an affiliate, we earn on qualifying purchases.
