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Farm’s name and location:

La Camotera farm is located in Monte de la Virgen community, belonging to the municipality of Talgua, Lempira. It has an altitude of 1474 meters above sea level and the Catuai variety is predominant, which is the variety that the grower Miguel Angel Quintanilla used to enter the auction in the cup of Excellence event.
What is your farm’s history? Is your farm a family unit? How long has it belonged to your family? How many members make up your family? The farm has been family owned since 30 years ago. I inherited from my father part of it and the other part I bought from my brothers. It is a family unit since all the family members have responsibilities assigned to them from the youngest to the oldest member.
My daughter Juliam Orquidea is the youngest and she helps out in the coffee bean selection, and Keylin Marlen is 13 years old and is an excellent picker and selects the seeds for the seed box and the boy is my left hand, Gerson David is in charge of receiving and carrying out the coffee’s milling process. My wife is in charge preparing the food for the pickers and that is the reason why I consider my farm a family unit.
How many persons work in your farm, family members, permanent employees and temporary employees? During the year my son Gerson and I do the work and hire around 15 temporary workers to pick the harvest. What natural resources conservation practices do you follow in the farm? I use the pulp in the soil and I manage well the coffee waste water since we have been told it is one of the main pollutants of the water sources in the coffee growing communities. What is the shade percentage and the varieties found in your farm? Approximately 60% of shade is from grabilea, cedar, guamas, musaceaes, peach, avocado and supte.
What type of fertilization process do you use in your farm? From the farm’s beginning I have worked with the formulas distributed IHCAFE getting good production and quality results and I also use organic fertilizer.
What type of management do you use in your farm (traditional, semi-technical, technical?) Semi-technical.
Are you part of an association or cooperative? RED DE PRODUCTORES ORO VERDE. What is the secret for winning this competition (describe the preparation process of the competing lot)?1 – The geographical location of my farm.
2 – Good planting, harvesting and milling practices.
3- Picking methods for the coffee cherries.
4 – The variety that was selected for the competition. How does it feel to be a winner of the Cup of Excellence? It is a great privilege to compete and be awarded among the best coffees in Honduras .
Who prepares your coffee for exportation? (Explain how you sell it and to whom)We dry it into parchment coffee ourselves.
What is your opinion of the Cup of Excellence? It is as a great help for Honduran coffee growers.
What has been your experience in the Cup of Excellence? It is the first time I participate in this event and it has awaken in me the need to improve how to make my coffee even better each time and also this helps the people in my community to get encouraged to produce excellent coffee.