In Boquete, Panama, there are 4 or 5 families who produce some of the best coffee in the world and have done so for generations. However, many coffee farmers in the region do not operate their farms like a business. They have no capital to invest, they do not rotate the trees that are past their peak, so they end up with old farms producing a small amount of average coffee.
In 2014 we set about acquiring these underperforming coffee farms, that have the same natural conditions as our successful coffee-producing neighbors, such as altitude, rich volcanic soil, perfect micro-climates, etc, and we began turning them around into well run, high yielding specialty coffee farms. It was not rocket science, but it required “Capital and Coffee Science”
In 2016, we expanded into the cacao/chocolate industry as we wanted to add some diversity to our product portfolio, and for our investors, so we branched out into Belize. Belize is literally the birthplace of cacao. However, after decades of mismanagement and lack of funding, the cacao industry there was dying out. Farmers had no training or capital to develop their farms and end consumers lost faith in Belizean farmers to deliver.
Similar to our approach in Panama, we began acquiring and developing cacao farms, as well as establishing a bean buying program with existing farmers, and with the application of “Capital and Cacao Science”, we are putting Belizean cacao back on the map.
In late 2021 we acquired our first cacao farm in Panama, a 62.5-hectare property located in Chiriqui, Grande.