Farm: Finca La Confianza
Producer: José Angel Espinoza Caruajulca
Purchasing relationship: 3 years
Region: Alto Pirias, Chirinos, San Ignacio, Cajamarca
Altitude: 1812 masl, 5.2°S
The farm that bears the name La Confianza is located in the hamlet of Las Pirias, around 40 minutes from the Chirinos district in the San Ignacio province of Cajamarca. Jose Angel Espinoza Caruajulca runs the farm along with his wife, Edita Peralta, and with the help of their sons. Besides La Confianza, which is about two hectares in size, they run two other farms and a total of around ten hectares.
«We were raised in coffee», Edita says, «everyone in our family is committed to it». Working as a family is what is most important to the couple. They have four older sons, who have moved out already, and four underage children, who still live in their house. «The little ones see how well we’re doing, and how their older siblings have their own farms, and decide they want to do the same. Sometimes they say they don't want to go to school and just start working on their farms already», adds Edita. But they want to make sure the younger kids finish school first before potentially working in coffee farming themselves: Even though their own experience growing up on a farm has taught them the necessary skills and experience to work independently, formal education is very important to them.
One of their older sons is an engineer and he helps them take care of the fertilization process. He has taught them a lot about high-quality organic fertilizer and how to properly use it. Thanks to good cultivation practices, organic fertilization and the high altitude, they are producing coffee pretty much the whole year, which is rather uncommon. Besides Caturra, they also grow a handful of other varietals, and produce a good three tons of coffee per year. The family recently planted some new varieties, for example Geisha, and they built new drying beds that allow them to dry more than 500 kilograms of coffee at a time.
Besides coffee and family, there's one other big passion that Angel and Edita follow: beekeeping. What began as a fun little side project has become an important side income for them. They now have around 20 beehives spread across their three farms. Angel says: «I'm building modules for my beehives to keep the bees safe from rain and wind», and Edita adds: «Thanks to the bees, our coffee harvest continues. Bees travel far and pollenize our coffee flowers. They help us and our planet.» As experienced farmers, they understand and appreciate the environment they live in and recognize the need to maintain and foster the biodiversity.
