Sustainable Harvest launches Kickstarter campaign to help save Guatemalan coffee farm

Sustainable Harvest coffee importers, Batdorf & Bronson coffee roasters, and Equator Coffees & Teas, have launched a Kickstarter project to support Finca El Valle, one of Guatemala’s most struggling coffee farms. The Kickstarter project was announced at Let’s Talk Coffee, Sustainable Harvest’s annual supply chain gathering, which took place October 9 – 12 outside Panama City in Panama. The event gathered together more than 500 stakeholders from throughout the supply chain to build relationships, discuss pressing industry issues, and calibrate as a supply chain. One such pressing issue was the Coffee Leaf Rust crisis, also known as Roya, which hit the coffee community in late 2012. Farms throughout Latin America were impacted by the airborne disease, including award-winning Finca El Valle, a 48-hectare coffee farm in Antigua, Guatemala. Roya spread through about 50 hectares of Finca El Valle, lowering the farm’s output from 140,000 pounds in the 2013 harvest to 28,400 in 2014. According to Sustainable Harvest, Finca El Valle remains in dire shape from the effects of Roya. With the longevity of Finca El Valle in doubt, some of its longtime partners launched the Kickstarter project to help save the farm. The campaign aims to raise $20,000 for restoration efforts at Finca El Valle, including replanting coffee and shade trees and applying protective agricultural treatments. Cristina Gonzalez is the owner of Finca El Valle, who is part of the third generation of women to run the farm. In 1978, when Cristina was a teenager, she inherited the farm from her grandmother. While many of her relatives wanted to sell the farm because of the work required to maintain coffee production, Cristina felt she owed it to her grandmother to keep the farm. When she turned 18, she took control of the farm, and with the help of her husband and three sons, has fought to keep the land and continue growing quality coffee. To read more about the project and support this campaign, visit the Kickstarter page at: http://tinyurl.com/nzhsnwd