Searching for new farmland with the best-growing conditions for specialty coffee in our little town of Boquete, Panama often leads you off the beaten path and into misty mountain tops around Volcan Baru.
Over the last few years, we have focused on acquiring undeveloped, virgin land high up in the hillsides so we can engineer the perfect coffee farm from scratch.
The farms have excellent soil that has never been farmed before. They come with a natural shade canopy from a diverse mix of trees and reach altitudes of 1,800m - 1,900 m+. All perfect for growing specialty coffee.
As often happens in life, there is a tradeoff, and what you gain in growing conditions, you lose in things like road access and municipal electricity.
We have been developing the roads slowly, from hand-cut dirt tracks suitable for farmers to walk and our ATVs to more robust roads that can handle a 1.5-ton truck.
Next up is electricity. As our farms in this region get closer to production, we will permanently relocate farmers and their families to these highland areas. We have some housing in place, with more to be built next year, and we begin work on our solar power project this month.
Solar panels will be installed on the workers' housing in Fincas Loma de Los Cedros and Jaramillo 8. The Jaramillo 8 housing is home to all the workers who manage the cluster of farms in this region, about 90 hectares (225 acres).
The 1st phase will provide enough electricity for lights and personal use. Over the coming years, it will be expanded to supply power to satellite coffee processing facilities.
This is just one of the many projects that go on throughout the year while we provide better working and living conditions for our workers and their families and continue to prepare for the coffee production from this region.
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