Finca El Guatalón

Finca El Guatalón is a family owned and managed farm established by Guillermo Juarez's grandfather. Guillermo Juarez is a retired agronomist who started working on El Guatalón over a decade ago. The farm is separated into five micro-regions by soil type and altitude. The farm has Typica, Mundo Novo, Pache, San Ramon, Caturra, Catuaí, Villa Sarchi, Pacamara, Maragogype, Gesha and the SL types planted. Over the last few years Guillermo Juarez has been slowly handing over more of the farm work to his son Willy. Between the two of them they practice a non-invasive style of agriculture. Shade trees remain throughout the farm and the different cultivars are planted in the area to which they are best suited. Willy now manages all the farms activities and has been recently renovating older areas with new plants from their nursery. As each generation has bought new varieties to the farm, Willy continues this tradition with the introduction of Arará and Catucaí. A big challenge for Willy will be the increase of temperatures and unpredictable weather. To try to get ahead of potential problems he has increased the amount of shade trees to try to balance the temperature, as well as reducing the planting density to allow better air circulation, dispersal of humidity and a more even ripening process.