Federal layoffs threaten Hawaiian coffee. Plus, Starbucks cuts hundreds of jobs in their corporate office, and new research investigates how specialty coffee consumers perceive value.
‘Kona Coffee Industry Hit by Funding Freeze and USDA Layoffs at ‘Existential Moment’’ – via Hawaii Public Radio
Over the last few weeks, the current United States presidential administration has announced sweeping federal layoffs, which could impact coffee production in Hawaii.
Many challenges have hindered coffee production in Hawaii for years, including disease, pests, and climate change. The federal government provides grants and personnel to combat these threats. But as Savannah Harriman-Pote reports for Hawaii Public Radio, funding freezes and staff cuts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture put that assistance in jeopardy.
Federal funding has been vital over the past two decades in fighting the coffee berry borer beetle, which arrived in Hawaii in 2010 and caused millions of dollars in losses, and combatting coffee leaf rust. The USDA has invested millions in projects to combat both—most recently, the USDA gave $6 million to the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council (SHAC) in 2021 for research on coffee leaf rust.
Suzanne Shriner, a Kona-based coffee farmer and administrator for the SHAC, told Harriman-Pote that the remaining $2.8 million of the grant was frozen without explanation. Although a temporary court injunction unfroze the money, Shriner is worried about what will happen once that injunction expires in mid-March. “If that funding was lost, our scientists wouldn’t be able to continue working on it the way that they are,” Shriner said. “They’re working for the long-term solutions.”
The impact of USDA cuts has gone further than just funding freezes—across the country, the Trump administration has laid off scientists and researchers who were working on key agricultural programs. As part of the cuts, six employees at the USDA agricultural office in Hilo, Hawaii, were fired, a source told Harriman-Pote.
Two employees, an entomologist and a geneticist, were also let go but had their positions reinstated—an about-face that mirrors similar reversals across USDA offices. Shriner is pleased the two employees were brought back, although she says that the uncertainty “instills a culture of fear that is really hard to watch from the outside.”
It’s not just Hawaii—the federal funding freeze will impact coffee production across the globe. For years, USDA grants have helped farmers in Puerto Rico regenerate the island’s coffee industry. The current administration also announced plans to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which impacts dozens of coffee-related projects around the world.
For Shriner, the future of coffee production in Kona is at risk. “We are facing an existential moment, and I’m not sure we can properly document in this moment what Kona is going to look like in 10 years, because there’s so much change happening within our crop and within the larger world,” she said.
‘Coffee Science Foundation and Ohio State to Study How Consumers Value Coffee’ – via Daily Coffee News
Do you buy coffee based simply on how it tastes, or do you take into account other factors? Are you willing to pay more for coffee from a specific country or region, for example, or for coffee that was processed in a particular way? And which is the most important factor?
New research from Ohio State University and the Coffee Science Foundation seeks to quantify how consumers perceive the value of specialty coffee and how they make purchasing decisions.
“Through this research, we aim to uncover how both sensory qualities—like aroma and flavor—and non- sensory factors—such as certifications and origin—shape consumer perceptions of coffee value,” said Dr. Christopher Simons from the OSU Department of Food Science & Technology in a press release.
The project will examine consumer motivations using both controlled sensory booths and virtual coffeehouse settings to gauge how these scenarios inform participants’ coffee preferences and perceptions of value. Using these different contexts, Simons said, “we hope to gain a deeper understanding of how real-world environments interact with these sensory and non-sensory attributes to influence purchasing decisions.”
CSF noted the importance of consumer-focused research for producers, roasters, and retailers. In the press release, they wrote that findings can serve to help them “align their product offerings with consumer expectations and accurately assess market value.”
‘Starbucks Lays Off 1,100 Corporate Employees as Coffee Chain Streamlines’ – via AP News
After teasing a plan to reduce its workforce in January, Starbucks has announced that it will lay off 1,100 corporate workers on Tuesday.
In a letter from CEO Brian Niccol, he said the move was a bid to “operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration.”
Starbucks has 16,000 corporate employees around the world. According to Niccol’s letter, the company is cutting “global support partners,” as well as “several hundred additional open and unfilled positions.”
According to Niccol, layoffs were a “hard decision” for upper management to make, but that “we believe it’s a necessary change to position Starbucks for future success.”
Starbucks has been struggling with falling sales and growing customer and worker discontent over the last few years. Starbucks hired Niccol at great expense in 2024 to help reverse course, and has spent the last several months executing a new strategy called “Back to Starbucks” strategy, aimed at making the company “a welcoming coffeehouse again.”
“I know this process is challenging and recognize the impact it will have on partners whose roles are being eliminated,” Niccol wrote. “Starbucks is what it is today because of the contributions of incredible partners, like you.”
More News
‘Soaring Coffee Prices Disrupt Market, Straining Traders, Farmers’ – via Valor International
‘The Origami Cup Is Coming To Houston In April’ – via Sprudge
‘Several Investors Mulling $1bn Starbucks China Stake Acquisition, Report Says’ – via World Coffee Portal
‘Three New US Coffee Champions Have Been Crowned’ – via Sprudge
‘New Caffeine Survey Shows Shifts in Caffeinated Beverage Patterns in the US Market’ – via Communicaffe
‘Luckin Coffee Vows to Continue Price War Following Robust 2024 Results’ – via World Coffee Portal
The Week in Coffee Unionizing
Eighteen out of 20 workers at Ruby Coffee Roasters in Wisconsin voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1473. Employees told Caitlin Shuda at the Stevens Point Journal that their love for the company pushed them to unionize.
“They said they wanted to help the company grow and improve, but they were limited in the ways they could help,” Shuda wrote. The workers didn’t want to be named. “They wanted to formalize their roles within a union to help grow in ways that encouraged each other and didn’t overextend workers to where they were burned out.”
Ruby Coffee Roasters started in 2013 out of owner Jared Linzmeier’s garage, and has grown to three locations around Nelsonville and Stevens Point.
“Workers told the Stevens Point Journal they all love their job and want to be able to build each other up and recognize each other and work together to be the most effective and best employees,” Shuda wrote. “They said Ruby Coffee Roasters already has the best coffee in the area; they want to make it the best place to work, too.”
Meanwhile, workers at Starbucks cafes across the U.S. continue to organize: over the past month, workers at locations in Massachusetts, New York City, California, and Illinois all filed for a union election while workers in Pennsylvania, New York, and Minnesota voted in favor of joining Starbucks Workers United.
In the wake of the company’s layoff decision, Starbucks Workers United has also called on their corporate colleagues to unionize. “In 2023, Starbucks corporate workers bravely spoke out in solidarity with our union movement and our fight for fair contracts. Now, as Starbucks lays off 1,000 corporate partners, we are raising our voices in solidarity with them,” the union wrote in an Instagram post. “Decisions like these show us that corporate workers must unionize to protect themselves and their fellow workers in all industries.”
Beyond the Headlines
‘The Cynical Evolution of Coffee Substitutes’ by Fionn Pooler
‘Coffee Roasters Are (or Should Be) Raising Prices. Here’s Some Advice on How’ by Nick Brown
