In Guatemala, coffee is traditionally processed individually by smallholder farmers, making it difficult to manage and guarantee quality form lot to lot. Our partner in Ayarza works with numerous farmers in the region, paying a premium for ripe cherry and processing it centrally to maintain strict standards throughout.

Arnaldo López (56) is one of the many producers we work with at Ayarza cherry mill and has been involved in coffee production business his entire life. His father took him into the field to plant coffee trees as a child. Now Arnaldo has five children of his own and the cultivation of coffee has provided a platform for the family to grow and improve their quality of life.

Arnaldo farms 12.6ha of land and production has varied greatly over the years. Like many farmers in this current crop the volume is down compared to prior years. Two factors have driven this decrease – large crops from the year before and disease attacking some of the traditional varieties. The new varieties (Anacafe 14 and others) that are being planted have shown more production and disease resistance. Arnaldo has pushed through these adversities with the financial support of a livestock trade and an extra income from the small supply store run by his wife Alicia Trigueros.