Meet Our Farmers

Raul has worked with coffee for 20 years and calls El Aguacate home with his wife, Mariela, and their two children. While he enjoys his life on the farm, he wants to give his kids an education- an opportunity he never had. Currently, his daughter Catherine, 21, is in college at the University of Nariño and Richard, 16, is in high school. While he would welcome either of them at the farm, he knows the younger generations are hesitant to pursue a career where the profit margins are so low or can even be negative. For now, Raul works hard tending to his 4,500 trees of the colombia and castillo varieties. He is continually trying to improve quality and foster a profitable business. His short term focus is supporting his family and his long term goal is creating a profitable business so his children might continue the legacy.

Rodrigo, his wife, and their four children call Frandes home. After decades in the industry, Rodrigo will be the first to tell you that the life of a coffee farmer is very difficult due to the labor intensive crop and low market prices. As a result, he has decided to focus on specialty coffee. This way he can spend his time better managing smaller quantities of coffee. He has already reduced his size by giving each of his children a small area of Frandes to begin their own coffee growing business. He is optimistic that this will allow everyone to produce at a higher quality and therefore lead to a sustainable lifestyle.