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Starbucks opens 10th Farmer Support Center

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August 19, 2021

Starbucks Coffee Company has opened its first Farmer Support Center in Brazil. The opening marks the company's 10th global center to support local coffee growers.

Located in Varginha, Minas Gerais state, the center extends Starbucks presence in a key coffee producing region and aims to provide valuable resources to local coffee communities as part of the company's commitment to source coffee responsibly, for the betterment of people and the planet, according to a company press release.

"At Starbucks, coffee is core to who we are and what we do," Alfredo Nuno, director of global farmer support centers and Hacienda Alsacia at Starbucks, said in the release. "The opening of the Starbucks Brazil Farmer Support Center represents an important milestone in Starbucks continued investments in coffee growing communities. As we aspire to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all, we believe the knowledge we gather through the relationships built by this Farmer Support Center will play a significant role in our efforts to elevate the coffee-growing supply chain in Brazil and around the world."

Starbucks has nine other Farmer Support Centers in coffee-producing countries which provide open-source agronomy and trainings on ethical sourcing practices to farmers. Five are located in Latin America. The company has trained more than 200,000 farmers through the program since opening in Costa Rica in 2004.

Starbucks operates more than 33,000 stores worldwide.