Near Santa Elena |
Nestor & Reiman |
With Reiman Porras from Cafe Monteverde I visited one of the farms in the Coopesanta Elena Cooperative. The co-op is made up of 40 or so, small coffee producers and was formed in 1988. In 1989 a partnership was established with Montana Coffee Traders, an early, trail blazing, specialty coffee roaster...
One of the Nestor's biggest worries was the recent unpredictability of the weather, which was dramatically affecting his crops; rainy seasons that didn't end when they were supposed to, and dry seasons that had become dryer than ever before. 'Coffee is an exacting crop that requires an ideal mix of rain and temperature and climate change is damaging that balance.'
Coffee plants |
Nestor |
Around the farm, an assortment of pets and animals roamed. The setting was a magnificent low lying area surrounded by hills, lots of tree cover, and a random mix of coffee plants, banana plants, sugar cane and other tropical vegetation. This is what a pesticide free, organic, coffee farm looks like.
Fair Trade ensures that Nestor is paid even double, the meager amount multinationals would pay. This helps keep him in business and investing in his farm in a sustainable way. If we don't support small farmers like this, all that will be left is a cup of Maxwell House to start the day... something akin to a tragedy piled on top of a catastrophe!
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