This month, we sit down with Emilia Umaña, Senior Manager of the Nursery Development Program at World Coffee Research (WCR). A trained agronomist and proud member of a coffee-growing family in Costa Rica, Emilia brings both technical expertise and personal insight to her work in strengthening global coffee seed and nursery systems.
At WCR, Emilia leads efforts to improve how coffee trees are developed, distributed, and delivered to producers around the world. Her work is grounded in the belief that better, more resilient planting material is key to ensuring long-term sustainability and farmer success, especially in the face of climate challenges. With over a decade of experience in the sector, Emilia is helping build strong foundations for restorative infrastructure programs and seedling systems. Her role is central to WCR’s mission of developing a global toolbox of improved varieties and technologies for the future of coffee.
We’re excited to spotlight Emilia’s journey, her first-hand experiences in the field, and her vision for a more sustainable and equitable future for producers everywhere.
Hey Emilia!
Tell us about you and your current role at WCR.
WCR’s Nursery Development Program was born in 2019 out of the need to ensure that healthy, high-quality planting materials were available to farmers. At that time, the sector was still recovering from the coffee leaf rust epidemic of 2013 throughout Central America, and major renovation efforts had been made to provide farmers with plants that could withstand the disease. During this crisis, I was working as a coffee extension officer in Costa Rica and I saw firsthand how the fungus was affecting farmers’ fields and livelihoods. But, after a few years, it was clear that not all of the trees replanted were performing as expected. Root problems, low-quality seedlings, and reports of varieties that were previously tolerant being impacted by rust became very common, which was deeply concerning.
This is the context in which the program started. In the beginning, we focused mainly on nurseries—typically small businesses that grow seedlings to later distribute to farmers—and the implementation of good agricultural practices. We quickly realised that this was not enough. We also had to include activities to ensure that the seed that nurseries use to grow their seedlings was also produced with good agricultural practices and traceability procedures, especially in areas where farmers prefer to source their seed locally.
And, as we started to unravel all of this, we began asking questions and going deeper into the structural reasons behind why coffee farmers do not have access to the plant materials they want when they need them. Issues such as public policy, farmer behaviour, distribution channels, access to credit, and access to information are all highly interrelated—the best variety in the world does not do any good unless it is accessible to the farmers that need it.
We have projects underway in 5 countries at the moment. Each of these projects are different in nature as they are tailored to local realities, but all have the same goal: make better trees available and accessible. I spend my days with my team talking about seed and seedlings, identifying new gaps and challenges, and continually coming up with creative solutions to problems on the ground. My absolute favorite part of my job is when I have the opportunity to go to the field, whether it is training a cooperative in seed production or collecting samples for genetic verification of a plantation—nothing makes me happier than working alongside farmers and extension officers and getting my rubber boots covered in mud. My uncle (also an agronomist) says that the best soil fertilizer for a plantation is the footprints of its owner, meaning if you really want to solve the problem, you have to be there.
Emilia Umana inspects seedlings in a nursery in Costa Rica
We recently had the chance to taste some of WCR’s F1 hybrids, which are the result of the organisation’s first breeding initiatives. You’ve worked closely on this project for years—how do these varieties fit into the future of coffee?
Coffee is a crop that is greatly underfinanced. There are many approaches to breeding new varieties, and most of them were not explored in coffee until recently, and so, as a sector, we have historically relied on traditional breeding techniques. That can take up to 30 years to produce varieties ready for farmers. F1 Hybrids are an approach to breeding that started to get explored in coffee in the early 2000s (the famous H1 Centroamericano being one of the hybrids from that program).
When WCR was initiated, our team crossed a new set of hybrids, and this was one of the first projects put into place. The plots were established back in 2015. After several years of evaluation, a subset of those were selected to advance to pre-commercial trials. This may sound like a long timeline, but it is way faster than traditional coffee breeding!
In the current phase, the plants are evaluated for how they perform in farmer fields under management conditions designed by the farmer—the purpose is to determine which materials have the characteristics that farmers do find useful, and which ones are not suitable for real-life, commercial farms. Those farmer fields are being planted this year and will be evaluated for yield and coffee leaf rust tolerance, but mainly for farmer preference.
While F1 hybrids are an important tool for some farmers, they are not suitable for all, and WCR is working on several parallel breeding initiatives that will produce different products for different situations. These original WCR F1 hybrids and the journey they took to get to precommercial trials will serve as an important, foundational model for the evaluation and release of WCR’s seed-propagatable varieties–the first wave which is expected in 2030. These can be reproduced by seed (note: hybrid varieties are not able to be reproduced by seed, only in tissue culture labs). These varieties will come out of the organization’s Innovea Global Arabica Breeding Network.
Cupping different coffees varieties with WCR member company, Counter Culture, as a part of the International Multilocation Variety Trial (IMLVT), the world's largest trial testing high-performing coffee varieties all over the globe—in the field and in the cup.
How do nursery development and seed sector professionalisation fit into the bigger picture of making coffee more sustainable and climate resilient?
As the technical challenges of breeding programs are being tackled and previous barriers are removed, we as a sector need to think about how to take advantage of the new technologies and options that are made available. How are seeds and seedlings being tested, produced, and distributed to farmers? What is the capacity of our propagators to ensure materials reach farmers in their healthiest, most cost-effective way? At what rate can farmers test and renovate plantations? A professional system can design and implement solutions to that.
The process of providing better options for farmers is not just a technical one (the challenge of creating plants with better yield, that are resistant to diseases and to extreme weather events, etc.), but one also has to take into account the traditions and cultural aspects of coffee farmers. Coffee production is something that is deeply embedded in daily life for a lot of us—being a coffee farmer is not something you do, it is something that you are—especially in Latin American origins.
The traditions around how farmers create their networks, talk to each other, share genetic materials and information need to be part of the solution. This makes changing trees less intimidating for farmer communities, and strengthens communication between farmer needs, industry’s preferences, and breeding programs’ capabilities to deliver better options in shorter times—building resiliency and allowing our sector to be more adaptable.
What is your vision for a flourishing and sustainable coffee sector that prioritises nursery and seed infrastructure?
Think of almost any other crop—your favorite fruit, vegetable, or side dish. Did apples come to mind? Carrots? Spinach? The farmers who produce them are able to choose from hundreds, if not thousands, of varieties created for them by breeding programs. They have the ability to choose whatever option suits them best in terms of where they are growing their crop, what their chosen market is, and the type of management they have designed for their farm. They can choose, test it, and even order it online and be sure that what arrives in the mail is the correct variety.
I want that choice, availability, and quality assurance of materials for coffee farmers, too. Do you have a farm in the humid lowlands of Indonesia? Or the drought-prone areas of northern Uganda? Or in the rich soils and rainy lands of my beautiful home country of Costa Rica? No problem. You can choose what you need, are able to test it, and it is available near your community—that is what a robust structure in nursery and seed infrastructure can provide. It is about having an inclusive and integral perspective of the coffee production system as a whole, not one that only focuses on a single solution at a time, but one that is able to honor the connectivity of the entire value chain.
What excites you most about the future of coffee agriculture?
Coffee agriculture is on the verge of dramatic changes. The current situation surrounding production is challenging the status quo—and although it may be scary and I do not believe in rash decisions—creative solutions are being generated and technical networks are unifying coffee scientists across the globe. For example, as I mentioned, WCR’s Innovea network is centering global collaboration and is set to release 100 new coffee varieties by 2030 for trialling. Knowledge is key, building capacity at origin is key, and it is happening at a rate we have never experienced before. And this is only possible with support from the coffee industry—traders like DRWakefield and WCR’s 200+ member companies—and governments. Industry and governments are stepping up to this existential challenge, and we need even more to participate!
Is there anything you like doing in your spare time?
Plants and animals are my absolute favorite things in the world. I like any activity related to that. It may be gardening, cooking, taking my dogs to explore the woods together, or visiting a botanical garden. I also like any outdoor sports like horseback riding, river rafting, hiking, rock climbing, etc.
If you had one day in your hometown in Costa Rica, how would you spend it?
At the Caribbean side of the country, for sure. Starting the day snorkeling and looking to spot colorful fish, walking in the jungle after lunch, and dancing in the street at night. All with the best food of course: Traditional “rice and beans” with coconut chicken, salad, and plantains, and “Agua de sapo” to drink.
Do you have a mantra you live by?
I am the second youngest grandchild of eighteen children (my mom is the sixth of seven siblings), so I grew up around a lot of people older than me. I have inevitably picked up a few! One mantra that I repeat to myself almost every day, and I can hear it in my grandad’s voice is “Todo pasa,” which translates to something like “This too shall pass.” It reminds me that everything (good or bad) eventually ends, and that our time on the planet is very short—how our personal issues are often not that big of a deal anyway.
How do you take your coffee?
Depends on the time of day. My morning coffee is usually filtered method, no sugar (good coffee does not need it!), and hot. I typically have more coffee after lunch, sometimes with ice, or sometimes a flat white with oat milk if the weather is cold.
What is your favourite origin, coffee variety and processing method?
Costa Rica, of course! I buy directly from my friends and enjoy the connection it brings to my country and traditions. Currently I have been rotating a blend of Caturra-Catuaí from Café don Lucas (Tarrazú region), an H1 Centroamericano from V&G San Juanillo (west Valley) and an Esperanza from Aquiares (Turrialba region).
Nursery at Aquiares farm in Costa Rica, which hosts trials of new varieties.
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