David is a young producer in Antioquia, part of an informal group of innovative young farmers who are determined to prove the potential of their region goes beyond chocolate and caramel cups. His father thinks David’s ideas are too radical and their pair argued about the best way to manage the family farm. To solve the conflict, David’s father decided to lease the property to David to manage as he chooses. David and his brother Daniel took control of the farm in October 2017 and have since made significant changes. Here are a few updates from David on his progress.
1st OCTOBER 2017 to 31st MAY 2018:
We took control of the farm on the 1st of October, 2017 and we pay rent to our father. We took advantage of the higher prices you gave us for coffee and invested all the profits to improve the farm and plant even more coffee.
We made several changes including a plan of fertilization and we managed to produce 5700 kilos of excelso (export grade green coffee beans) of excellent quality coffee between October 1, 2017 to May 31, 2018. We were also named among the 60 best coffees of Antioquia.
We have also improved the house and our processing facilities, now they have the colors of Nordic Approach and Drop Coffee in honour of you, as we owe a lot to you. Now we work hard to improve the living conditions of our workers. In summary, it was a great year for us and we are very grateful to you for buying our coffee.
1st JUNE 2018 – 27th JANUARY 2019:
We have completed the second year of the La Conchita farm lease, and although the previous year was very good, and we achieved a lot with the improvements to our process and work conditions, unfortunately we had some climatic problems. The weather in 2018 did not help the flowering, which drastically reduced the harvest. From June 1, 2018 to May 31, 2019, we had hoped to harvest 7,500 kilos of excelso, but unfortunately so far we have only been able to harvest 2,250 kilos, and there is not enough coffee left on the trees to meet our goal.
In May 2018 we had a tragic event at La Conchita farm, where a hailstorm hit. It pelted ice on about 80% of the farm, seriously damaging the trees. Now that we’re harvesting the coffee, we can see that about 10% of the cherries are affected by damage from the hail which leaves a stain on the bean. This means we need at least 90 kg to 100 kg of parchment to be able to prepare 1 bag of 70 kg of exportation of the type excelso. This is much more than usual, so our final yield suffers.
I want to tell you that we will continue working hard, myself and my brother Daniel, to advance on the farm and be able to offer a much better coffee next year. Here are some photos of the work we did to renovate the home and beneficio, some “before and after” pics of La Conchita farm
Thank you for everything and good coffees!
Fun fact: Conchita is also the name of Juan Valdez’s mule.
Before 
After 
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