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Farm’s name and location:

La Cumbre farm is located in the Buenos Aires, Azabache community in the municipality of Danli, Department of El Paraiso. It has an altitude of 1302 meters above sea level and is located 65 km from the city of Danli. This farm is managed through an agroforestry system under the shade with little use of agrochemicals and focused in the soil and water conservation. It also has a protected forest area with timber and fruit trees.
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? I inherited this farm of 1.41 hectares from my father (Pedro A. Martinez Mejia) 25 years ago. With a lot of sacrifice I started growing coffee and since then, little by little I have been investing in my farm allowing me now to produce 17.85 ha. Now I produce about 400 QQ of coffee of the varieties Catimor, Lempira and Pacamara. All my family is involved in the farm’s activities since it is our main source of income. I have six offspring ages 21, 19, 17, 15, 13 and 12 years old.
How many persons work in your farm, family members, permanent employees and temporary employees? All my family is involved in the farm’s activities on a permanent basis and I hire about 8 to 10 employees during the year, to pick the harvest I hire between 25 to 50 workers and for the milling process the entire family gets involved.
What natural resources conservation practices do you follow in the farm? 1 – The coffee is grown under the shade of forest trees, besides planting in curves at level to minimize soil erosion. 2 – There is waste water management treatment for the milling process so the water returns without pollution to the rivers.
3 –There is solid waste management treatment with the composting process. What is the shade percentage and the varieties found in your farm? All the coffee in my farm is under regulated shade and I use Guama trees and timber (cedar, mahogany) and two thousand trees for shade have been certified under the IHCAFE/ICF agreement. What type of fertilization process do you use in your farm? I use two chemical fertilizations yearly after undergoing a soil analysis and getting feedback from the soil analysis lab from IHCAFE. What type of management do you use in your farm (traditional, semi-technical, technical?)The management of the farm is semi-technical with little use of chemical products.
Are you part of an association or cooperative? I am a member of the cooperative COCAAL which groups 60 coffee growers, we cooperate among each other in the farm management practices and we also form micro lots of coffee which we export through COHORSIL in Siguatepeque.
What is the secret for winning this competition (describe the preparation process of the competing lot)? 1 – The geographical location of my farm and the environmental conditions. 2 – Good planting, harvesting and milling practices3- Harvesting coffee at the optimum ripeness.
4 – Drying the coffee with solar dryers. How does it feel to be a winner of the Cup of Excellence? I feel very fortunate to have been able to win an award that allows me to keep producing quality coffee besides allowing me to establish a process of continuous improvement for my farm, and it also encourages me to work the same or even better.
Who prepares your coffee for exportation? (Explain how you sell it and to whom)All the cooperative members sell our parchment coffee to the Exporter COHORSIL (micro lots.) in my case, the cooperative CACTRIL prepares it (the Cup of Excellence lot, and another lot that I sell to ATACA/JAPAN is prepared by a coffee processing plant in Santa Rosa.)What is your opinion of the Cup of Excellence? 1 – It benefits the grower.
2 – It motivates growers and helps promotes the quality of our coffee.
3 – It helps the grower get an economic profit. What has been your experience in the Cup of Excellence? This is my sixth time participating, in 2009 I entered the online auction in 35th place and sold it for US$ 2.75. In 2011 I entered the week of the national competition but didn’t enter the online auction, but I sold my coffee to the Japanese through ATACA for US$ 3.00.- In 2012 I am a regional champion and won 12th place and entered the online auction, and I will also sell a small lot to ATACA. – (The years 2007, 2008 and 2010, I entered national week but was unable to sell my coffee.)