Starbucks Buys Farms as Climate Change Threatens Coffee Supply

Starbucks Corp. is buying two new research farms that will test everything from drones to microbes as it seeks to make coffee more resilient to climate change, which has already constricted availability and driven up prices.

A farm in Costa Rica will look at solutions including how technology can help growers. In Guatemala — a key supply region — Starbucks will replicate the challenges facing the small farms that make up 97% of its supply chain. Both locations will also study new coffee varieties as climate change shifts where the crop can thrive.

Bolstering the coffee industry’s climate resilience has ...