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UPR Mayagüez: Puerto Rico's Coffee Research Program

The José de Diego administration building at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, its portico inscribed College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts.

The José de Diego administration building at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, its portico inscribed College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. Photo: Joapsk8 (English Wikipedia) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez is the island's land-grant campus, and its College of Agricultural Sciences includes the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Extension Service. The station made the field selections behind Limaní and Frontón, the two rust-resistant coffee varieties most associated with Puerto Rico, and keeps its coffee germplasm collection and field trials at its substation in Adjuntas. The Extension Service carries the station's research to growers through agricultural agents across the island. The sections below describe both, and the publications and services a coffee farmer can use today.

History

The University of Puerto Rico's own history says that federal land-grant benefits were declared applicable to the island in 1908, and that the College of Agriculture was established at Mayagüez in 1911. It credits the college's founding to the joint effort of D. W. May, director of the federal experiment station, José de Diego and Carmelo Alemar. A year later the school took the name College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts, which it kept for 50 years before it became the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus.

A photographic postcard of the College of Agriculture buildings at Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

A photographic postcard of the College of Agriculture, Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, about 1945. Photo: Unknown author / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Two different experiment stations appear in the island's coffee history. The federal Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station at Mayagüez worked under the supervision of the US Department of Agriculture, and in June 1924 it published Bulletin 30, Coffee Varieties in Porto Rico, by its horticulturist T. B. McClelland.

Bourbon coffee trees, from a plate in a 1924 bulletin on coffee varieties in Puerto Rico.

Bourbon coffee, Plate V of Bulletin 30, Coffee Varieties in Porto Rico (June 1924), published by the Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station at Mayagüez under the US Department of Agriculture. Photo: Porto Rico Agricultural Experiment Station / Internet Archive, public domain, cropped.

The University's Agricultural Experiment Station was founded in 1910 by a sugar producers' association and later transferred to the University, according to a 2010 paper in the Proceedings of the Caribbean Food Crops Society. It has been administered by the College of Agricultural Sciences at Mayagüez since 1933. Its scientific journal, the Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico, has been published without interruption since 1917. The station now has two research centres and six regional field stations, and its address is the Jardín Botánico Sur in San Juan.

Coffee Research at Adjuntas

The station's list of substations includes one in Adjuntas, on Road 525 at kilometre 2.5 in barrio Limaní. Its coffee guide reports field trials there, among them a test in which a single application of a fungus gave up to 48 per cent control of the coffee leaf miner. A paper by Rodríguez, González and Bosques in the Journal of Agriculture of the University of Puerto Rico evaluated thirteen lines from the Adjuntas substation's coffee germplasm collection, together with lines from Costa Rica and from Portugal's coffee rust research centre, for resistance to coffee leaf rust under Puerto Rican conditions.

Limaní and Frontón

Both varieties descend from the Timor Hybrid, a natural cross of arabica and robusta coffee that appeared on the island of Timor in the 1920s and carries resistance to coffee leaf rust. Limaní is a Sarchimor. Portugal's coffee rust research centre, CIFC, crossed the rust-resistant Timor Hybrid plant CIFC 832/2 with the compact variety Villa Sarchi to create the hybrid H361, and in 1971 it sent that hybrid to field trials in several countries. In Puerto Rico, that Sarchimor population was called Limaní. World Coffee Research describes Limaní as a pedigree selection from a population sourced from Brazil, made by the Estación Experimental Agrícola, and released to the island's farmers in 1994 after evaluations showed resistance to coffee leaf rust and high yield potential. Frontón is a Catimor: a cross of Timor Hybrid and Caturra introduced to Puerto Rico from the Instituto Agronômico de Campinas in Brazil, with the selection made by the station at Adjuntas. According to a 2021 master's thesis at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez, the Campinas institute supplied both varieties to the station in 1982. Coffee leaf rust was first recorded in Puerto Rico in 1989, at Las Marías, so the resistant material had reached the island seven years before the disease. The station's 2018 coffee guide describes Limaní as semi-dwarf and rust-resistant, outyielding Caturra, with good cup quality. It describes Frontón as rust-resistant and tolerant of nematodes, a little taller and less uniform in size than Limaní, and high-yielding. The guide recommends both for planting above 1,000 feet; World Coffee Research and a 2022 article from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture give above 1,000 metres for Limaní. World Coffee Research adds that Frontón is susceptible to coffee leaf miner and segregates in the field. Both varieties have their own article: Limaní and Frontón: Two Rust-Resistant Coffees Selected in Puerto Rico.

The Purity Problem

World Coffee Research reported in 2019 that DNA sampling of seedlots in 2017 showed Limaní and Frontón were no longer genetically pure. Some Frontón lots included plants that had crossed with other varieties, and the Limaní seedlot was mostly a genetic blend. It said this mixing and genetic erosion had led to a breakdown of rust resistance in the local varieties. It announced a project to use genetic testing to find true-to-type trees on farms across the island, re-establish pure seed gardens, and train farmers to protect those trees from cross-pollination. Its variety catalogue says that plants identified as Limaní today rarely match the original reference. For a farmer, the difference matters: a tree sold as Limaní may lack the rust resistance the variety was selected for.

Sun Coffee

The station's research also shaped how these varieties were grown. Its coffee guide reports that coffee grown intensively in full sun yielded 40 per cent more than coffee grown intensively under 30 per cent shade, and that these results led growers to set aside the use of shade. The 2022 article from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture describes Limaní and Frontón as dwarf cultivars used for sun coffee, and says the Department of Agriculture's promotion of them reflected earlier policies supporting sun coffee, high-density planting and maximum yields.

Los Cafetaleros de Puerto Rico

About twenty people standing around a round cupping table, with cupping bowls, spittoons and sample bags, in a coffee laboratory.

About twenty people standing around a cupping table in a coffee laboratory, in a photograph the University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez publishes under the heading Cafetaleros de Puerto Rico. Courtesy of the Empresa de Cafe, Estacion Experimental Agricola, Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto Universitario de Mayaguez. Used with permission.

The station's coffee unit, the Empresa de Café, uses the name Los Cafetaleros de Puerto Rico for the group of professionals who have received its specialised training in quality coffee. The university describes them as Agricultural Extension Service agents from the coffee zone, Experiment Station researchers, and agronomists and staff of the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture. Their stated mission is to pass knowledge to farmers so that they can raise production and earn a better living for their families, workers and communities. The training was part of the project Improving Quality Practices Knowledge to Access Specialty Coffee Markets, carried out with the Department of Agriculture and funded by the FSMIP programme of the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Marketing Service. The unit also trains young people, children of farmers and of agricultural entrepreneurs, in two cohorts, Los Cafetaleros Milenios and Los Cafetaleros Fénix 4H. It runs a coffee competition, La Taza de Oro, whose 2019 winners it has published.

The Agricultural Extension Service

The Extension Service's agriculture programme exists to transfer the technology developed by the Agricultural Experiment Station. Its agricultural agents work through farm visits, training, short courses, demonstrations, meetings, radio programmes, field trips, exhibitions and press articles. The programme serves both small farmers, most of whom depend on incentives, and growers with more capital for whom farming is their main income. Its office map lists these offices in the coffee zone, among others:

  • Adjuntas: 6 Calle Rius Rivera, Adjuntas, PR 00601; Adjuntas.SEA@upr.edu; (787) 652-0065, extension 3721.
  • Utuado: 22 Calle Betances, Utuado, PR 00641; Utuado.SEA@upr.edu; (787) 652-0065, extension 3391.
  • Las Marías and Maricao: 66 Avenida Matías Brugman, Las Marías, PR 00670; UELasMarias.SEA@upr.edu; (787) 652-0065, extension 3661.

The same map lists offices for Jayuya, Lares, Ciales, Orocovis, and Yauco, Guayanilla and Guánica. The Service's general telephone numbers are (787) 765-8000 and (787) 652-0065.

Publications and Testing for Coffee Farmers

The Empresa de Café posts its manuals and guides online as PDF files, and they include:

  • a manual for sustainable coffee growing in Puerto Rico (1999), a coffee propagation manual (revised September 2018), and a graphic manual for producing quality coffee from seed to cup (2017);
  • a practical guide to coffee production, a guide to managing coffee leaf rust, a manual on integrated management of the coffee berry borer, and a guide to the practices to follow after a hurricane.

The rust guide tells growers to inspect their farms regularly, especially between August and March. The after-hurricane guide advises removing uprooted trees from the plot and leaving bushes that were bent over as the storm left them. The Conjunto Tecnológico may be partly used or reproduced for educational purposes with full credit to the station, and copies can be requested from the station's Publications Office at the Jardín Botánico Sur in San Juan. The unit's farmer-services page carries instructions from the Laboratorio Central Analítico for taking soil, leaf-tissue and water samples; water samples are received only on Mondays and Tuesdays. The Empresa de Café can be reached at cafe.eea@uprm.edu and (787) 767-9705.

After the Hurricanes

After Hurricane María, the Department of Agriculture distributed seedlings of Limaní, Frontón and Marsellesa, and by January 2020 it had delivered 1,214,679 of them under the coffee recovery programme. The 2022 article from the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture reports that the Department supported the donation of two million seeds of Frontón and Limaní, along with incentives for compost, fungicides and machinery. The storm and the recovery are described in Hurricane Maria and the Coffee Industry (2017): Devastation and Survival.

Another Campus: UPR-Utuado and Café CORMO

UPR-Utuado, founded in 1979, is the youngest campus of the University of Puerto Rico and its only campus in a rural setting; it was formerly the Colegio Regional de la Montaña, known as CORMO. Fresh Cup described its coffee programme, Café CORMO, in 2014 as a kind of coffee university directed by four professors, with field experiments in shade trees and organic pesticides and herbicides, a laboratory, and outreach to the coffee community. In September 2016 Primera Hora reported that the US Department of Agriculture had certified the nurseries of UPR-Utuado's special coffee project as organic, the first such certification granted, as the institution reported, after work that began in 2008. The campus was donating the seedlings as a community service, giving organic growers in nearby towns a certified local supplier.

The Library of Congress film below follows Puerto Rico's coffee farmers; it does not name the university or its stations.

Watch: El Motor: Coffee and the Heart of Puerto Rico — Library of Congress

It was made by Russell Oliver, who received a 2022 Community Collections Grant from the American Folklife Center.

Key Facts

  • UPR-Mayagüez is Puerto Rico's land-grant campus; its College of Agricultural Sciences includes the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Agricultural Extension Service.
  • The University's Experiment Station was founded in 1910 and has been administered from Mayagüez since 1933.
  • Its coffee germplasm collection and field trials are at its Adjuntas substation, in barrio Limaní.
  • Limaní, a Sarchimor, and Frontón, a Catimor, were selected by the station; Limaní was released to farmers in 1994.
  • Both reached the station from Campinas, Brazil, in 1982, seven years before coffee leaf rust was first recorded on the island in 1989.
  • The station recommends both above 1,000 feet; World Coffee Research gives above 1,000 metres for Limaní.
  • DNA sampling in 2017 found the island's Limaní and Frontón seedlots no longer genetically pure.
  • The Extension Service has agents and offices throughout the coffee zone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did UPR-Mayagüez create Limaní? It selected it. The cross behind it, Villa Sarchi with Timor Hybrid, was made at Portugal's coffee rust research centre; the station made the selection and Limaní was released to farmers in 1994.

Where can a coffee farmer get technical help? From the agricultural agent at the nearest Extension Service office; the offices for Adjuntas, Utuado and Las Marías are listed above. The Empresa de Café can be reached at cafe.eea@uprm.edu.

Are the station's coffee manuals free to read? They are posted online as PDF files, and no price is shown. The Conjunto Tecnológico may be partly reproduced for educational use with full credit to the station.

Why does variety purity matter? Because a tree sold as Limaní may be a genetic blend that has lost the rust resistance the variety was selected for.

At what altitude should Limaní be planted? The station's 2018 guide says above 1,000 feet, while World Coffee Research says above 1,000 metres. The local agricultural agent can advise for a particular farm.

What does CORMO stand for? Colegio Regional de la Montaña, the former name of UPR-Utuado.

Sources

Claims this encyclopedia could not source

  • The founding year of the Adjuntas substation, often given as 1952. No source located.
  • That the variety Limaní takes its name from barrio Limaní in Adjuntas, where the substation stands. No source states the link.
  • A genetic study finding Limaní and Frontón distant from common arabica cultivars. Not located.
  • That UPR-Mayagüez took part in World Coffee Research's work to restore pure Limaní and Frontón seed. Not stated in the sources located.
  • That the station supplies seed or seedlings to growers. No source located.
  • Whether Extension Service advice and laboratory tests are free. No page located states a fee or says they are free.
  • International exchange programmes or partnerships with coffee programmes abroad. None located.
  • That many leading figures in Puerto Rican specialty coffee are alumni of the campus. No alumnus was named or verified.
  • Commercial planting of Limaní or Frontón outside Puerto Rico. No record located; World Coffee Research describes Frontón as found primarily in Puerto Rico.

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