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Farm

HistroyThe farm was acquired by the Sertao Group in 1979, when new plantations were started. New concrete terraces were built, and washer, drier and processing equipment. It is located in the "Sul de Minas" region, at the Mantiqueira Mountain Range rim, at 25km from the Municipality of Carmo de Minas. Girolando cattle are also raised at the property. The Sertao Group is highly concerned with environmental preservation. That is why there is a large area of native rain forest in the farm, and all water sources as well as riparian forests that protect the creeks are preserved. Houses were built in the property for its 35 employees - who are registered according to Brazilian Employment and Labor Laws - and their 13 families, a total of approximately 80 people. The houses have infrastructure, such as running water, electricity and sewage. The other families reside in the city of Olimpio de Noronha, at a 3 km distance from the farm. All families receive, in addition to the employees' salaries, milk, coffee, medicine, etc. The workers' children go to school and have are transported to school from the gate of the farm, by a bus line that makes several trips according to an established schedule and at no cost. For the employees' and their families' leisure and to encourage them to practice sports, the farm has at their disposal a soccer field and sand and quoit courts.

Coffee processing system

Coffee is picked manually on cloth, because of the farm's topography and for the beans not to loose their quality. As soon as the beans are picked, they are transported to Fazenda do Sertao, where they are washed, pulped and spread out. Then they are transferred to the drier and subsequently to bins to rest. They return to the drier until they reach the adequate 10.5% humidity. After this process, they are stored in permanent bins to rest for 30 days. The last step is their final processing and storage at the Cooperative's warehouses, where they receive their final standard classification. Concern with quality The plantations, especially the most recent ones, originated from seeds and nursery trees that were always selected with the participation and guidance of the agronomists of Procafe and Cocarive, diversifying the varieties according to soil conditions, in order to produce the best quality coffees. Year after year, the Sertao Group has been investing in high quality coffees. We believe and we struggle to maintain the excellent quality of our coffees with their distinct taste in the cups of the population in general. Since 2002, the Sertao Group farms have been receiving the BSCA and Illy national awards, demonstrating the results of a work in favor of the whole Carmo de Minas micro-region. This year, we will install a coffee pulper, increase the terrace areas, expand the installations for beans to rest and the permanent bins. According to the Sertao Group's philosophy of continuously improving the quality of the coffee it produces, Francisco Isidro Dias Pereira visits various national and international entities, and also exchanges experiences with other producers, in the Sertao Group's continuous search to obtain high quality coffees.