Dive Summary:

• Starbucks announced on Tuesday that it had purchased its first coffee farm, which Starbucks will turn into its global agronomy research and development center.
• The 600-acre farm in Costa Rica will be used to to conduct research on the roya fungus, or leaf rust, which kills coffee leaves by draining them of essential nutrients and diminishing bean yields.
• The disease has decimated much of Central America's coffee crop; the International Coffee Organization (ICO) states that next year's projected losses (4 million 60-kilogram bags of coffee beans) would be  equivalent 18% to 30% of Central America's crop in 2011 to 2012.

From the article:

"... This year, the blight has surprised farmers by climbing to altitudes above 3,400 feet for the first time in Central America and Peru. The fungus has also reached Mexico. Coffee trees growing at such high altitudes had never before been exposed to the disease, which is spread by the wind, and farmers were unprepared for the decimation it has brought.

So severe is the problem that Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla last week unveiled a proposal for a $40 million fund to help up to 40,000 farmers in the tiny Central American country who have been affected by the outbreak. ..."