Emilio Lopez of Topeca Coffee Roasters will give the conference keynote speech on “Living with Coffee Leaf Rust.”

The statewide Hawaii Coffee Association (HCA) will present an informative two-day webinar featuring coffee industry leaders, researchers and educators on June 24-25.

The event is a free resource for association members and the broader community.

In addition, HCA will host the 12th annual Statewide Coffee Cupping Competition, with winners announced June 25 at a 5 p.m. virtual awards ceremony.

Coffees will be blindly cupped in three rounds using the Specialty Coffee Association of America scoring system.

Emilio Lopez of Topeca Coffee Roasters will give the conference keynote on “Living with Coffee Leaf Rust.”

A seventh generation farmer, Lopez is managing director of Odyssey Coffees, an agro-industrial organization based out of El Salvador.

Together with companies in the U.S. and Brazil, Odyssey Coffees runs a vertical integrated coffee business.

Odyssey grows and processes coffee from over a dozen farms and distributes them across the world to roasters who demand top quality.

Topeca Coffee Roasters operates two different roasting facilities with cafes and a multi-state distribution.

“2020 was the year of COVID and coffee leaf rust,” noted HCA President Chris Manfredi.

“2021 represents the year in which we have an opportunity to successfully emerge from these multilayered crises.”

The webinar will offer the latest information on a broad range of topics, changing trends and regulations.

“The coffee industry and the conditions in which we operate are changing rapidly,” added Manfredi.

The conference speaker/activity lineup includes:

Thursday, June 24 — 8 to 8:30 a.m., message from Hawaii Coffee Association President Chris Manfredi; 8:45 to 10:15 a.m., Keynote on “Living with Coffee Leaf Rust;” 10:45 to 11:30 a.m., Hawaii Department of Agriculture Update; and 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources Update.

Friday, June 25 — 9 to 10 a.m., U.S. Department of Agriculture/Pacific Basin Ag Research Center Panel Update; 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., Hawaii Agriculture Research Center and Hawaii Coffee Growers Association Panel Update; 11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., Social Media Marketing Tips by Anthology Marketing Group; 12:45 to 1:30 p.m., “Get to Know Us: The Hawaii Coffee Association Café Collective; 1:45 p.m., Hawaii Coffee Association Board Election Results; 5 p.m., Hawaii Coffee Association Cupping Competition Awards Ceremony.

Register for the conference at https://hawaiicoffeeassoc.org/page-1771716.

The 2021 Virtual Conference sponsors include the State of Hawaii Department of Agriculture, Monarch Coffee and Satake.

Learn more about the HCA at http://www.hawaiicoffeeassoc.org/.