For our final entry in our Meet Your Farmer series, we're introducing you to Amilsa, a small entrepreneur, an active member of the church and a loving mother and wife.
In her free time, when she isn’t working with her husband on their coffee, she takes pride in providing a supplemental income for her family from a small store that she runs in their roadside home.
If you haven't already, be sure to order Soldera Noche Buena, El Desayuno and El Dorado so you can support these women growers and enjoy a quality cup of coffee!
A couple years ago, Amilsa’s eldest boy moved away to work in the city to find more opportunities than existed in their coffee-producing community, an event that has made her more determined to create excellent quality coffee on her little slice of land. As a business woman, she has a big-picture perspective and understands the traditional coffee industry is in a haphazard situation as youths are no longer interested in farming due to the lack of compensation.
She sees hope for coffee by working with shared value companies, increasing technology usage, increased communication and relationships of actors throughout the value chain. As one of our older producers, and one who has always produced delicious specialty coffee, Amilsa was one of the first to try out their artesanal de-pulpers and was extremely motivated to try new processing strategies if it means she’ll get higher quality and therefore higher prices.
Location: San Antonio las Flores, Mataquescuintla, Jalapa, Guatemala
Farm Area: ~1 hectar
Altitude: 1700 MASL
Varieties: Caturra, Catuai, Pache
Shade Coverage: ~70%
Processing: Traditional washed
