Starbucks Buys Its First Coffee FarM.

Starbucks Corp. SBUX -1.28% has bought its first farm, with plans to use the 600-acre property in Costa Rica to develop new coffee varieties and test methods to eradicate a fungal disease known as coffee rust that is vexing the industry.

Starbucks bought this 600-acre coffee farm in Costa Rica to test best growing practices

The Seattle-based coffee giant, which closed on the purchase Friday, decided to buy the farm in part because its location will allow testing of different growing methods, in order to understand what makes coffee plants thrive at different elevations. The land ranges from 3,600 to 5,500 feet above sea level.

"We are talking about doing innovative things we would not be able to do without this farm," said Starbucks Chief Executive Howard Schultz , adding that he won't rule out the acquisition of more such research farms. He wouldn't disclose the purchase price, but a person familiar with the matter said farms of that size in Costa Rica generally fetch $5 million to $10 million.

The new farm will enable Starbucks to develop proprietary new coffee varieties through hybridization—but not genetic modification—and different processing techniques. The farm will complement five centers Starbucks operates around the world where agronomists work with local farmers to increase their yields.

The purchase comes amid growing concern about coffee rust in Latin America, where Starbucks buys the majority of its coffee. The fungus's impact has reduced forecasts for coffee production for the next growing season in much of the region, and caused Guatemala's president last month to declare a national emergency.

Craig Russell, a Starbucks senior vice president, said the company has secured a sufficient supply of coffee unaffected by the fungus from its farmers in the region for the latest harvest and the next one. "It's a dynamic situation and we will absolutely use this farm for testing different methodologies and ways to use new types of coffee trees we've developed that have become more disease- and rust-resistant," he said.

Starbucks said it will share what it learns with other farmers that aren't suppliers.

Coffee rust attacks coffee-tree leaves, starving them of nutrients and eventually causing them to wither and fall off. In the late 19th century the fungus devastated coffee production in Sri Lanka, India, Sumatra and Java, but it hasn't been a huge nuisance to Latin American farmers until this year and scientists aren't exactly sure why, according to John Vandermeer, an ecology professor at the University of Michigan.

Mr. Russell said drier than normal weather this season in Latin America could be partly to blame.

Starbucks has long had agronomists working with farmers around the globe to address ways to ensure viable crops amid changes in climate, and this will help company researchers study the topic further.

"What Starbucks is doing is taking a proactive approach to understanding the impact of climate shifts on production and disease," says Peter Seligmann, Chief Executive of Conservation International, a non-profit that has helped Starbucks develop criteria for growing coffee in socially, environmentally and economically responsible ways.