Last month we touched briefly on the longer-term impacts that can result from decisions made in the short term on a coffee farm. This month we wrap up our La Bolsa series with discussion on the farm’s longer-term challenges.
Finca La Bolsa is in the Huehuetenango state, near the border with Mexico, and the area has been going through a lot of changes over the last decade. One of the biggest impacts on the coffee sector has been the number of agricultural workers leaving the industry – many have emigrated to North America and those staying have found more work in construction. Traditionally these people would have worked on the larger farms in the area, and because of these changes the larger farms have had to either reduce their crop areas (and therefore production) or mechanise more of their processes to work with fewer numbers of workers. Many farms have sold off smaller sections to local families who receive what is known locally as support money from their family abroad. Those remaining have started growing coffee and other produce themselves for the local markets.
As a medium-sized, family-run farm in Huehuetenango, La Bolsa has also been affected by the local labour conditions. They have reacted by carefully planning their upcoming harvests and having a well-paid and trained team. The family’s focus on building their core team has helped maintain production and deliver quality coffee consistently. Crucial to this is the work of returning farm manager Mercedes Jiménez. Mercedes more recently worked for Anacafé (the National Coffee Association of Guatemala) where she gained expertise and knowledge from other coffee areas of Guatemala.
One of Mercedes’ many strengths is future planning. She is an advocator of making early decisions so that the next step in a project can be actioned. Mercedes believes the best way of doing this is getting out onto the farm and into the plots where the analysis is completed. Analysis can include soil, plant and climate condition, as well as understanding more about the likely local market conditions. There is no point planning a big rejuvenation of an area of the farm if there are no pickers in three years’ time to collect the harvest. Equally, replanting a plot is almost three years’ worth of work, and must be started well before it is needed with choosing the varietal, gathering the seeds, and preparing the seedbanks. During this time the land needs to be cleared of remaining coffee trees and prepared with mulch to protect the topsoil from erosion. Intercrops such as legumes, which help fix nitrogen into the soil, are often also planted, cared for and harvested.
Another challenge for the team at La Bolsa has been the changes in the local climate. The dry and rainy seasons are seemingly on the move and becoming less predictable, which combined with the typical La Niña and El Niño pattern, makes planning the harvest challenging. However, there are some interesting opportunities from the changes; land at higher altitude not previously suitable for coffee is now warmer and new plots are being considered.
We’re looking forward to our next visit to La Bolsa and catching up with the team there. For now, we’ll leave this month with instructions from Mercedes, ‘be efficient, have a strategy, define each activity well’ – words to live by.
Monmouth x
