UC Davis Joins Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Coffee and Cacao
The University of California, Davis will join other universities, trade groups and a leading global food company in a university-led collaborative agricultural research program that leverages the advanced capacities of American institutions to meet global challenges in coffee and cacao research.
UC Davis is a subrecipient of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Coffee and Cacao (CCIL), a multi-year cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of State awarded to the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Clemson University in South Carolina serves as co-lead.
The UC Davis subaward includes research led by both the UC Davis Coffee Center and the Mars Plant Science Center in collaboration with the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis.
“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,” said Irwin R. Donis-González, project lead and principal investigator at UC Davis, associate professor of cooperative extension in postharvest engineering in Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and co-director of the UC Davis Coffee Center.
“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," he said.