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 […]
The Las Colinas cooperative manages natural spring that provides water to thousands of its neighbors. Caring for it is a responsibility that Las Colinas takes seriously.
The Las Cruces cooperative has been farming 190 acres of shade coffee in El Salvador’s premiere origin for over 30 years, but is only now beginning to make a name for itself in the specialty coffee industry. We are pleased to help the cooperative introduce itself here.
Twelve parting shots from my recent travels in El Salvador.
Portraits of smallholder cooperative leaders in El Salvador.
Throughout Central America, thousands of smallholder farmers who were brought up in coffee as workers on large coffee estates have taken the reins of those farms and are running them as cooperative businesses. In some cases, cooperatives are still learning to fly on their own even 30 years after they formed.
Lest someone think the subsidies we are providing to reduce farmer risk are the exclusive domain of development agencies and NGOs that spend other peoples’ money, I want to share some details today about a roaster that has taken a similar approach. Equal Exchange, the pioneering Fair Trade roaster, is paying a farmer organization in El Salvador to implement new post-harvest practices, without regard to cup quality.
An important part of our approach to agro-enterprise involves making the chain that links farmers to markets more transparent. The idea is that the more farmers understand the market end of the chain — consumer preferences, market trends, quality standards, product presentation, etc. — the more effectively they can meet the demands of the market. […]
I recently had the opportunity to visit with a group of farmers in the sun-baked department of Usulután in eastern El Salvador. These farmers live at the lower bounds of coffeelands, as low as 400-500 meters above sea level. At this elevation, the sun is relentless and punishing and water is scarce. The only hope for sustainable coffee farming is effective shade management. When one middle-aged farmer observed that the leaves fell from the coffee plants that were directly exposed to the sun, an older one in the group shook his head and offered this wisdom: “Shade is the foundation. Without shade, there is no coffee.”
Farmers in El Salvador, which has few remaining natural forests, waning water resources and precious little high-altitude terrain, are acutely aware of the impacts of climate change. That’s why many are making short-term changes to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change on their farms and adopting water-efficient post-harvesting technology. The coffee sector in El Salvador is also investing in breeding more resistant varieties.
