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We are pleased to announce that an innovative proposal has been signed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, presented by the Accademia del Caffè Espresso, ENEA – National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development – by Italian researchers (UniRoma3) and Mexican researchers (El Colegio de Michoacán).

The proposal, called ECOCAFE, focuses on the study of coffee recovery and valorization activities of waste from the coffee supply chain in the Veracruz community, and the potential that all this can offer to the ecosystem and the actors involved.

This research is accompanied by an in-depth economic analysis centered on the biodiversity of cultivation in this part of the world.

The involvement of agronomist and Coffee Research Leader at Accademia del Caffè Espresso, Massimo Battaglia, has resulted in our participation as a scientific committee, which has provided its platform of knowledge and expertise.

The ECOCAFE project, of an academic-institutional nature, stems from the desire to integrate multidisciplinary skills and local traditions in the coffee production areas, to advance sustainable innovations and technologies.

The focus is on coffee and its by-products, with the dual objective of characterizing quality, minimizing the impact of the supply chain on the environment, and creating additional income for producers according to the principles of the circular economy.

ECOCAFE has brought together a multidisciplinary team of Italian-Mexican members, who have proposed working together to achieve the following objectives:

1. Develop a rapid and reproducible analytical chemical method to assess the quality of the coffee product and its by-products in the traditional production area;
2. Optimize green extraction processes, defining good practice protocols;
3. Develop bioproducts from processing waste to guarantee additional income for small producers;
4. Study the interaction of edaphic factors (related to soil) and how cultivation/production elements impact product quality, to enhance the supply chain in a high sustainability context.

Thanks are also extended to the representatives of:

ENEA
[Research Director
Dept. Sustainability of Production and Territory Systems
Div. Biotechnology and Agro-industry
Lab Bioproducts and Bioprocesses]

UNIROMA3
[Professor of Quality Plant Productions
Science and Wine and Food Cultures]

Photo Credits: The Florentine