The El Salto cooperative in El Salvador is named for a dramatic waterfall – or “salto de agua” – just a short distance from its offices that sends water tumbling more than 60 meters over a sheer rock face. It is one of five waterfalls on the farm that the cooperative’s members manage collectively, so when its leaders formed the cooperative in 1980, El Salto seemed an appropriate name.
But the name also evokes El Salto’s aspirations for the future: “salto” means “leap” in Spanish. For its116 members and their families, as well as the dozens of men and women that work in the cooperative’s mill, investing in coffee is an investment in the future. El Salto is making investments to increase its productivity, improve the quality of its coffee, expand its wet milling capacity, treat its wastewater, expand its dry mill, and build new trading relationships that contribute to the development of its community.
Name: El Salto
Established: 1980
Members: 116
Location: Jujutla, Ahuachapán
Elevation: 800-1100 m
Volume: 953 sacks (69 kg)
Certifications: organic, Fair Trade
Contact: Marcos Rivas Zetino, President, ++ 503-7222-0082
El Salto’s coffee is exported by APECAFE and available wholesale in the United States through Royal Coffee and Sustainable Harvest.