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FAZENDA SANTA LUCIA belongs to GRUPO SERTÃO. The geographical location, elevation, and climate make this farm a regional reference, and the farm ranks at the top of rainfall charts. In addition to featuring specialty coffees, Grupo Sertão is dedicated to raising Girolando cattle. The group carries the established brand GIROLANDO DA SERTÃO, the symbol of the best Brazilian breeder of the breed.

Twenty-five families, with about 80 people, live on the farm in houses given by the farm at no charge to the workers, all with water and electricity, where they also receive a salary above the minimum, milk, coffee, transportation and medicine. There is also a municipal school on the farm, it participates in the Family Health Program maintained by the government, there is a telephone line to meet all the workers’ needs, a soccer field for sports and a reservoir for fishing. Helcio Carneiro Pinto is a member producer of APROCAM, an association that prioritizes quality improvement and the specialty coffee business and is a member of COCARIVE.

Coffee processing system:

Harvesting is done by hand and with a cloth to prevent the beans from coming into contact with the ground; they are transported for drying twice daily where they are washed, pulped and spread on the same day. Afterwards they go to the dryer, from there to rest boxes, they return to the dryer and at 10.5% humidity they go to the final rest boxes to rest for 30 days and finally they are processed and later deposited at the Cooperative where the final classification will be done. The coffee is washed and pulped using a recycling and rational water use process, the residue is transferred to settling tanks and later returns to the crop.

Concern about quality:

Currently Fazenda Santa Lucia, of Grupo Sertão, is equipped with modern infrastructure with topnotch machines and improvements. Following the philosophy of continuously improving the quality of the coffees produced, various domestic and international entities are frequently visited in order to share experiences with other professionals in the area in the search for high quality standards of the coffees. All the coffee lots are tested and followed year by year. The choice of producing specialty coffees demands much attention and dedication from the producer. Traceability becomes indispensible both for understanding the property and the product and for making decisions about substituting a crop and choosing varieties to be planted.