The firm hopes the technology will provide real time information about the beans within the supply chain and help financially empower rural farmers.
The two-year pilot scheme will include farmers in Costa Rica, Colombia and Rwanda.
Kevin Johnson, chief executive officer at Starbucks, said: “Over the next two years, we will look to demonstrate how technology and innovative data platforms can give coffee farmers even more financial empowerment.
“We’ll leverage an open-source approach to share what we learn with the rest of the world.”
Starbucks has not outlined exactly what technology it will be piloting, but Arthur Karuletwa, director of traceability at Starbucks, indicated mobile phone technology would be at the core. “I’ve met farmers who have very little by way of possessions, but they have a mobile phone.
