Vulnerability of coffee (Coffea spp.) genetic resources in the United States

Coffee is one of the most important agricultural commodities worldwide, significantly contributing to the economies of many coffee-producing countries. Globally over 2.2 billion cups of coffee are consumed daily with over 400 million of those consumed in the United States alone. The two main cultivated species of coffee are Coffea arabica L. (Arabica coffee) and C. canephora A. Froehner (robusta coffee). The 2020/2021 global production for Arabica coffee has been forecast at 6.1 million tons and at 4.5 million tons for robusta coffee. Demand is predicted to increase in the coming years. In order to meet growing demands for coffee, additional investments in advancing coffee research are needed to deal with challenges posed by climate change and associated impacts such as higher incidence of insect pests and plant pathogens, resulting in lower productivity. To tackle the challenges faced by coffee growers in the United States, a coffee genetic resource conservation and research program has been initiated by the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS). A coffee genetic resources collection is being established at the USDA-ARS Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo, Hawai’i with a back-up collection at the USDA-ARS Tropical Agricultural Research Station in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. To help guide the development of the NPGS coffee genetic resource collection, the present coffee crop vulnerability statement developed by the Coffee and Cacao Crop Germplasm Committee provides background information about the crop, threats to coffee genetic resources, current status of coffee genetic resources and capacities, and projected future needs of coffee research, breeding, and production.