Research

The Whittier College Coffee Initiative engages in several local, regional, and national research efforts. We have developed an interdisciplinary and trans-institutional team of growers, private and public educators, USDA scientists, and private sector actors with extensive direct experience in part or all aspects of the proposed work. Several of the team members are directly involved in education and outreach activities and the team reflects the connection between producers-extension-research-industry, which is indispensable to promote innovative sustainable endeavors.

Ongoing Projects

Research Coffee Orchard

The College is home to an experimental coffee orchard, where 64 plants from ten varieties of Arabica coffee are grown according to organic and regenerative principles. Native California plant species are intermixed with coffee, and 18 avocado trees flank the orchard and provide partial shade. Whittier College faculty and researchers from partnering institutions rely on the coffee orchard for on-site research and demonstration projects.

Faculty-Led Research

Soil Science & Agronomy | Dr. Cinzia Fissore

Dr. Fissore, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Illinois Urbana and other institutions, has been working on assessing soil-plant nutrient exchanges, mycorrhizal association in specific varieties of coffee, and California-specific plant performance across varieties. The various projects have involved several undergraduate students, who have applied field and laboratory techniques to the study of the soil-plant nexus.

Sustainability | Dr. Christina Bauer

Through extensive lab work, Dr. Bauer studied how to process spent coffee grounds to create nano-sized pores that are capable of adsorbing various impurities. This work represents an important step in utilizing and upcycling waste for a new purpose in a manner that can be completed in a lab or within one’s own home to decentralize water treatment and avoid placing valuable resources into landfills. To reduce waste that contributes to climate change, targeting a large, globally traded commodity product such as coffee can make a significant impact.

Climate Change | Dr. Cinzia Fissore

A collaboration between Dr. Fissore and Nora Burkey from the non-profit The Chain Collaborative, the project focuses on the negative effects of climate change on the coffee sector and on vulnerable small-scale farmers. The work had the goal to define carbon-smart agriculture for coffee, map the organizations and companies at the forefront of drawdown in the coffee sector, and provide an inventory of tools that can be leveraged to reduce carbon emissions in the coffee sector. The project led to the publication, in 2022, of an industry report published by the Specialty Coffee Association.

Biodiversity | Dr. David Mbora

Under the mentorship of Dr. Mbora, undergraduate student Tiffany Tang tested how the species-area and the species-time effects influenced arthropod diversities at the Whittier College Research Coffee Orchard. In the process, she produced an inventory of the biodiversity of insects and other arthropods at the site. In November 2021, Tiffany presented the findings at the Southern California Conferences for Undergraduate Research.

Past Grants And Projects

Arthur Vining Davis Foundation Grant 

PROJECT TITLE: California Grown Coffee: A Program to Explore the Environmental Impact and Sustainability of a New Agricultural Crop within the Context of a Liberal Arts Education

Whittier College has been awarded a $300,000 grant from the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, which will help propel the growth of the campus’ sustainable coffee orchard and provide research and internship opportunities for students. The proposed interdisciplinary Program will engage Whittier College faculty and students in the investigation of the ecological, environmental, and socioeconomic relevance of coffee and avocado intercropping, a new and fast-growing agricultural practice within the California economy. The long-term, overarching goal of this Program is to develop a deeper understanding of the integrated multi-functionality of productive farmland, often located at the fringe of urban development in southern California, where high cropland cash rates compete with sustainable land use.

“California Grown” Documentary (See Trailer HERE) 

“California Grown,” provides an immersive experience for viewers. The structure and style of the documentary relies on a narrative arc propelled by the story of agricultural pioneering entrepreneurs within Southern California’s crowded foodscape.Our documentary explores this movement through the lives and voices of its practitioners. Like California’s diverse population, the farmers employing this method represent a wide array of cultural, economic, educational, and historical backgrounds.

Our project strives to create an authentic film that is at once approachable but edgy; rich in color and sound but also clean; regional in its context yet global in its implication. “California Grown”is in the tradition of successful PBS-style documentaries such as “Food Forward,” introducing the public broadcasting audience to a new world of possibilities, where pioneers and visionaries are creating viable alternatives to the pressing social and environmental impacts of our industrial food system. “California Grown” encompasses a range of organizational and representational strategies.

Our documentary captures these sometimes-competing voices that reflect the unique history and future of the state whose mantra can be seen on billboards everywhere: “California Grown.”