Mumbai: Starbucks Coffee Company today announced the creation of a Farmer Support Partnership (FSP), reiterating its long-term commitment to India and its goals to strengthen its market leadership in coffee. Through open-source agronomy, the FSP will work with Tata Starbucks Private Limited to link local farmers and agronomists to worldwide farming best practices.
Enhancing the coffee value chain in India from bean to cup
By 2030, Starbucks’ global procurement and trading division, Starbucks Coffee Trading Company, SARL (SCTC), will work closely with Tata Starbucks to empower 10,000 farmers. Tata Starbucks’ extensive local knowledge, India’s history of coffee cultivation, and decades of Starbucks’ worldwide agronomy experience will all be combined at the Karnataka-based FSP. In order to secure a sustainable future for Indian coffee, it would assist farmers from the country’s major coffee-growing states—Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala—in fortifying ties with Starbucks’ worldwide network, fostering innovation, and exchanging best practices in farming and sustainability.
In order to test sustainable solutions and integrate best practices in coffee agronomy, the FSP will establish technical “model farms” in collaboration with Indian farmers. The FSP in India will serve as a hub for testing new varietals, give expertise on innovative farming techniques tailored to Indian practices and conditions, and share ideas about other agroforestry programs to increase coffee quality, productivity and climate resistance.
The objective is to enhance conventional techniques to assist farmers in raising crop quality and profitability. The FSP will collaborate closely with the Starbucks global network’s current centers of excellence. This involves learning from current “model farms” in Starbucks’ supply chain and collaborating with Farmer Support Centers (FSC) in coffee-growing regions worldwide, where agronomists work closely with farmers on research. The Starbucks Costa Rica Farmer Support Center, the Starbucks Global Research and Development team, and the company’s first coffee farm, Hacienda Alsacia in Costa Rica, are all part of this network, along with FSCs in the APAC area in North Sumatra, Indonesia, and Yunnan, China.
Starbucks 2026 global digital training tools, which will provide comprehensive online modules on agronomy, coffee quality, and C.A.F.E. (Coffee and Farmer Equity) practices to promote ethical sourcing and ultimately improve productivity and sustainability, will also be made available to Indian farmers through the FSP. Additionally, it will support agroforestry and social development projects while educating farmers about Regen-Ag (regenerative agriculture) techniques and strategies to lower carbon, water, and waste footprints. Over the next five years, the FSP will develop projects related to Starbucks’ three main commitments: raising farm profitability, boosting climate resilience, and unlocking coffee productivity.
Over the following five years, Tata Starbucks will also provide one million high-yield variety Arabica seedlings to farmers in an effort to boost India’s whole coffee value chain. “India is one of our fastest-growing markets,” stated Starbucks chairman and CEO Brian Niccol during his visit to India this week. Together with Tata, we are shaping the future of coffee in India by empowering communities, helping farmers, and providing our clients with the best products possible.
Sunil D’Souza, Managing Director & CEO at Tata Consumer Products, stated, “Over the past ten years, Tata Consumer Products and Starbucks have helped shape India’s thriving coffee culture and industry. It’s a long-term commitment to build a stronger, more sustainable coffee ecosystem that benefits everyone, from bean to cup.” With this new project, we are happy to combine Tata’s presence in India with Starbucks’ worldwide agronomy knowledge to have a real effect and open the door for ethical coffee production in India in the future.
Reaffirming Starbucks’ leadership in coffee through unique and superior experiences
Tata Starbucks has been committed to providing Indian consumers with the distinctive Starbucks Experience since its founding in 2012 as a joint venture between Starbucks Coffee Company and Tata Consumer Products. This has created the foundation for India’s dynamic and always changing coffee culture. Tata Starbucks will commemorate the launch of its 500th coffee shop in India this week, reinforcing its long-term dedication to the industry and marking a critical milestone in its growth trajectory. India, one of Starbucks’ fastest-growing overseas markets, continues to be a key component of the company’s strategic and sustainable expansion objectives, with a persistent emphasis on job creation and significant development possibilities for its partners (workers).
As the second Starbucks Reserve® coffee experience in Delhi NCR, the 500th coffee shop will provide coffee lovers with an immersive experience that highlights Starbucks coffee craft, tradition, and storytelling. Tata Starbucks’ dedication to improving India’s coffee craftsmanship through sophisticated store design, handcrafted beverages, and locally inspired innovations is demonstrated by the coffee shop and its Starbucks Reserve® experience. Tata Starbucks will keep concentrating on developing a unique and elevated coffee forward experience in India as part of the worldwide plan to make Starbucks a friendly coffee shop where people congregate to enjoy the best coffee brewed by expert baristas.
It offers the world’s best coffee and sophisticated goods in a friendly coffeehouse setting that has made it a beloved element of India’s coffee scene. It urges customers to enjoy the complete flavor profile it offers. “As the biggest specialty coffee player in India, we are proud to bring the Farmer Support Partnership in collaboration with SCTC, a meaningful step toward strengthening India’s coffee-growing community and securing the future of high-quality Arabica,” stated Sushant Dash, CEO of Tata Starbucks.
Beyond expansion, we are dedicated to fostering a thriving coffee culture in India by investing in producers, partners (workers), and consumers. We’ll keep serving the best Arabica coffee from India and around the globe, made possible by the cozy, friendly third-place atmosphere that characterizes Starbucks.
