He studied accounting and worked at a large coffee farm for several years. His knowledge and experience in coffee brought him to the cooperative Coffee Growers of San Miguel Escobar. Since then, he has supported and guided his colleagues to success. When he first joined this producer’s group, he only had six cuerdas [one cuerda is 33x33 mt.] of land and has expanded to 26 cuerdas in total. Nowadays, he’s well-known for the quality of his coffee, which he proudly exports as a microlot to CoffeBar in Reno, Nevada. Manuel and his wife, Rosy are very thankful for the opportunities they have received through the De La Gente programs.

He grew up in a family of coffee growers and learned about coffee growing from his father from a very early age. By joining the cooperative, Coffee Growers of San Miguel Escobar, he went one step further and learned how to process his coffee. When he first joined the cooperative, he only owned two cuerdas [one cuerda is 33 x 33 mt.] of land. Now he has expanded to six cuerdas thanks to the benefits he’s received through the De La Gente programs. Mercedes, in addition to understanding the complexity of producing high-quality coffee, has seen the economic benefits for his family saying he’s proud of having been able to give a better education to his daughters. 

He learned about coffee growing from his father. Before dedicating full-time to coffee, he worked in the production department of a commercial printing company but still used to support his father in the coffee fields during the weekends. He currently owns nine cuerdas [one cuerda is 33x33 mt.] of land and he’s eager to expand his knowledge in coffee farming and processing through the guidance of his colleagues from the cooperative Coffee Growers of San Miguel Escobar. In his own words, he’s seeing the positive impact of working in unity with other coffee producers. He’s grateful for the opportunity to export coffee and guiding coffee tours.

A third generation of coffee grower. She learned about agriculture from her mother, Francisca from a very early age. Being surrounded by coffee throughout her childhood and teenage years made her gain a lot of knowledge and experience in coffee growing. When she joined the cooperative, Coffee Growers of San Miguel Escobar, she didn’t own any land, so she used to buy coffee from her parents to process and export with De La Gente. Some time later, and thanks to the profits obtained, she was able to buy five cuerdas [one cuerda is 33x33 mt.] of land. Today, she uses the extra earnings from the tours and coffee to buy fertilizers and cover expenses to keep her plants healthy.