Starbucks has announced the opening of its first Farmer Support Center in Brazil, and tenth globally. Located in Varginha, Minas Gerais state, the new Farmer Support Center aims to provide valuable resources to local coffee communities as part of the company’s commitment to source coffee responsibly.

The Farmer Support Center will enable Starbucks to work alongside local producers, suppliers and agencies to learn more about the unique environmental and social challenges facing the region, gain greater knowledge of advanced growing techniques and collaborate on long-term solutions to best support farmers.

“At Starbucks, coffee is core to who we are and what we do,” says Alfredo Nuno, director Global Farmer Support Centers and Hacienda Alsacia at Starbucks. “The opening of the Starbucks Brazil Farmer Support Center represents an important milestone in Starbucks continued investments in coffee growing communities. As we aspire to ensure a sustainable future of coffee for all, we believe the knowledge we gather through the relationships built by this Farmer Support Center will play a significant role in our efforts to elevate the coffee-growing supply chain in Brazil and around the world.”

Starbucks Sustainability Coordinators working at the Farmer Support Center will implement projects, workshops and trainings relevant to the unique needs of the coffee growers, such as safety best-practices and complex labor and environmental regulations. The Farmer Support Center will look to provide on-the-ground trainings for C.A.F.E. Practices, the company’s ethical sourcing verification program, that measures farms against economic, social and environmental criteria.

“Starbucks physical presence through the new Brazil Farmer Support Center will enable more direct, timely and in the field conversations with the many farmers in our cooperative,” says Lucio Dias, Director of Guaxupé Coffee Farmers’ Cooperative. “We are looking forward to strengthening our relationship with Starbucks and working together to advance our mutual goal of producing high-quality coffee that adheres to both C.A.F.E. Practices and local rules and regulations in a sustainable way.”