Profile

Finca La Bolsa is found in the western region of Huehuetenango, close to La Libertad, the Pan-American Highway, and the Guatemala-Mexico border. This is a beautiful part of the country and an area known for its production of high-quality coffee. Finca La Bolsa is one of the more established farms in the region with coffee grown since the 1980s. María Elena Vides de Ovalle inherited the farm from her father (Dr Jorge Vides), and runs it with her son Renardo Ovalle, farm manager Mercedes Jiménez, and farm agronomist Juan José Ariano. All together they make a formidable team and have continued the exceptional work Dr Vides started. Alongside the family’s commitment to community initiatives and new areas of certification, the management team have been through a period of improving farm and system efficiencies. From the coffee nursery to final harvest, no area of the farm has been untouched by the project, and it has brought about a deeper understanding of the land, and appreciation of the new challenges the farm and agriculture now face. We visited the team and farm recently and were impressed with the level of detailed improvements they have been making, and our own greater awareness of how the wider, regional economy is impacting on coffee growing. One of the greatest challenges farmers in this region and beyond face is the labour market. Construction is now a big employment opportunity in the area and there is a growing sector of new coffee growers, who, with the monetary support of family abroad, have been able to buy small plots of land and establish their own farms. The largest farms in the area have suffered the most from the labour shortage over the last few years, and it is farms like La Bolsa (smaller in comparison to the largest) who have been able to adapt quickly to the conditions. La Bolsa has a focussed farm strategy and a drive to make it work – in Mercedes Jiménez’s words, be efficient, have a strategy, and define each activity well.