Starbucks Corp. bought a coffee farm in Costa Rica to expand the company’s grower-support program and allow the world’s largest coffee-shop operator to purchase more coffee beans grown in an ethical fashion. The 240-hectare (593-acre) farm will help support growers and their families, while allowing Starbucks to create new blends of coffee to sell, Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz said in a statement. Seattle-based Starbucks has committed to buying only ethically sourced coffee by 2015. Starbucks, which sells fair-trade blends and reserve coffees from countries such as Nicaragua and Cameroon, has spent about $70 million during the past 40 years on farmer-support programs and loans. It opened its first farmer-support center in San Jose, Costa Rica, in 2004 and has since opened ones in Rwanda, Tanzania, Colombia and China. Starbucks fell 1 percent to $56.37 at a.m. in New York. The shares gained 6.2 percent this year through yesterday, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 8.8 percent. Earlier this month, McDonald’s Corp., the largest restaurant chain by sales, said it will invest $6.5 million during the next five years to help coffee growers in Guatemala produce more high-grade beans from sustainable farms. The Oak Brook, Illinois-based company sells McCafe-brand caramel mochas, as well as flavored frappe coffees. Source: washingtonpost.com/business/starbucks-buys-costa-rican-coffee-farm-to-expand-support-program/2013/03/19/e0182ac4-90a3-11e2-9173-7f87cda73b49_story.html
