University of Hawaii to Lead New Federal Coffee and Cacao Research Lab

The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa will lead a new federally funded research program focused on coffee and cacao, with an initial $8 million obligation for its first year under an agreement that could run for up to five years.

The new Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Coffee and Cacao will be funded by the U.S. Department of State and co-directed by Clemson University. Research is expected to span coffee- and cacao-producing regions in the United States, Latin America, Africa and Asia.

The “lab” is a multi-institution research program rather than a single new laboratory facility. Coffee-focused partners include World Coffee Research (WCR) and the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI). University partners include UC Davis, Michigan State, Ohio State and Penn State. Mars, PlantVillage+ and the Synergistic Hawaiʻi Agriculture Council (SHAC) are also participating.

The new program follows years of advocacy by coffee organizations for greater U.S. public investment in coffee agricultural research, while also addressing a gap in funding for Feed the Future Innovation Labs due to the dismantling of USAID under the Trump administration.

Research Priorities

Research priorities include breeding coffee and cacao varieties with greater resistance to disease and drought, according to multiple program partners. The program will also address farm management and post-harvest processing while building research capacity in producing countries.

Economic research is expected to help governments determine where agricultural research investments may have the greatest impact.

“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,”  UH Mānoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience Dean Parwinder Grewal, the program’s principal investigator, said in an announcement.

Coffee Research Advocacy

The SHAC said that its administrator, Suzanne Shriner, and WCR began working with members of Congress in 2020 to make the case for dedicated federal coffee and cacao research.

In 2023, SHAC, WCR, the National Coffee Association and Hawaii Coffee Association were among the groups supporting federal legislation designed to broaden funding for coffee plant-health research. In Hawaii, specifically, the push has come against the backdrop of continued crop threats from pests such as coffee berry borer, plus the spread of coffee leaf rust. 

The new investment remains modest relative to coffee’s larger research funding gap. A 2023 report from WCR estimated that an additional $452 million in agricultural research and development funding would be needed annually for a decade to help the global coffee sector maintain production diversity and quality.

Climate change and economic pressures facing coffee farmers remain key obstacles to the sector’s long-term health.

Federal Coffee Research After USAID

The launch also marks a new chapter for the Feed the Future university research system following the unexpected dismantling of USAID in 2025. Feed the Future Innovation Labs, which support international agricultural research and food security, had historically been funded through USAID.

Just months before the USAID shutdown, the agency awarded Cornell a five-year cooperative agreement valued at $5.485 million for the Coffee Improvement Program with WCR. Federal award records show that $1 million had been obligated before the award was terminated in 2025.

The new funding comes through the U.S. State Department, which on Oct. 15 announced eight Feed the Future Innovation Labs at U.S. universities. Beyond the Hawaii-led coffee and cacao program, the other programs address subjects including cereals, soil fertility, animal health, peanuts and aquaculture.

Hawaii as a Coffee Research Hub

Domestically, Hawaii offers a natural connection between coffee research and production, as the only U.S. state that commercially produces both coffee and cacao.

Coffee leaf rust was first detected in Hawaii in 2020 and subsequently spread throughout the state. In 2021, the USDA awarded SHAC more than $6 million for a coordinated leaf-rust research program involving universities and federal scientists in Hawaii and Puerto Rico.

SHAC estimates Hawaii coffee production at 20.7 million pounds for the 2025-26 season, down from 23.3 million pounds in 2023-24. The organization said production has fallen each year since 2022, attributing much of the decline to leaf rust.

The new Coffee and Cacao Innovation Lab is launching this month. Specific producing-country research sites and individual projects have not yet been announced.

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