Guillermo’s Quitupamba farm near Villamoreno, Nariño
Besides being the founder of ECOMINDALA S.A.S., a company founded by producers for the commercialization of coffee, Guillermo is an expert coffee producer whose farm is constantly innovating to reach the highest quality in the context of organic growing techniques.
Guillermo’s farm located in the village of the Quitupamba, inside the municipality of Buesaco, has made us all very proud during this year’s harvest in the middle of 2021. This time he experimented with two types of processing methods, which are traditional and natural washing. The difference is that natural washing saves 60% more water compared to the traditional washing method. Furthermore, it acquires distinctive physical and organoplectical properties that have awarded it a slightly higher score than the one processed traditionally.
The average altitude of the farm is 2180 meters above sea level, where he has several plots of coffee with Caturra, Borbón and Geisha varities. The reason why it is possible to grow coffee at such an altitude is because Quitupamba is located at the edge a canyon that allows the wind to distribute warm air to its surroundings. Normally, it would not be possible to grow coffee at such high altitudes for the cold temperatures would not allow coffee to grow properly.
In the pictures above, Guillermo is showing us his germinator where he is able to store up to 15.000 plants at a time.
Innovation work with the network of smallholders
Overtime, Guillermo and his team of farmers that take care of the Quitupamba farm, have acquired advanced machinery and equipment for the depulping, selection, processing, fermentation and drying of coffee. At this moment, Guillermo is developing a standardization method for coffee fermentation with the support of the Mariana University of Pasto. This way, the farmers that live around Villamoreno, who are part of the network that Guillermo supports, will be able to grow high-quality coffee with a more stable yield and possibility for commercialization and export.
Guillermo has supported a network of women smallholders since several years ago with quality improvement methods, quality control and commercialization. As a byproduct, he and the women smallholders created a mutual fund for a collective enjoyment of profits, of which Tertulia Andina Coffee is part. Thanks for the fund, some families have improved the materials of their houses or built new ones. Other ones have been benefited by the micro-finance scheme supported by the fund, which allows them to borrow money at a very low interest rate to fulfill their time-sensitive financial needs.
The fund is self-sustainable for it is nurtured by constant contributions from the Fair-Trade/Organic premiums and profits made by Guillermo, the farmers, the exporters and distributors in foreign countries, such as Tertulia Andina Coffee. The collective commitment has allowed the trademark “Dulce Milagros” to become an umbrella for hope and cooperation in south-western Colombia that horizontally integrates all the members of the value chain until the distribution in foreign countries.
Our biggest asset is not the accumulation of shared profits, but the attainment of a community based on trust that allows Mother Earth to thrive while everyone improves their lives under their own terms! For this reason we are hopeful about finding allies and future members for our horizontal network amongst retailers, roasters, coffee shops and end-stage consumers in Germany and other european countries.
Cafe Sarralde 