COFFEE FARMING
Generally speaking, most farms employ the same techniques based on soil, climate and region, growing either Robusta or Arabica coffee, but the majority of the coffee in most cups is still common, low-grade, low-grown Arabica. There just isn’t the extreme distinction from cup to cup that distinguishes one regional coffee from another. Attention to good farming and processing techniques has helped, but the coffee is grown at lower altitudes than most Specialty coffee, in non-volcanic soils, in non-forested areas that are sometimes originally grassland (a reason why the “shade-grown issue” really doesn’t apply much to those farms since the coffee farming areas had little shade to begin with.)
Life of a farmer in Jamaica
It is a geo-political fact that the best coffees in the world are produced in economically challenged regions of the coffee producing belt. Jamaica and regions of Central and South America, along with the Pacific Rim and Africa are prime examples. The life of the coffee farmer like that of any farmer in the developing world, is subject to the forces of nature.
Tropical rain falls, the equatorial sun, pollinating allies of the animal world, the creatures of the soil, are all partners in a process that we as the consumer, sitting in our favorite cafés, or in our homes, surrounded by the perks of our first world economy, are rarely cognizant of!
Rising up with the sun, planting the trees, tilling the soil, and harvesting by hand through the hot tropical sun, we navigate on hilly terrains every day to bring this rare delicacy to your cup.
Farmers by name, but by heart we are the small businessmen and women of Jamaica’s Blue Mountains. Every day we work diligently to provide for our families through the physical labor of working the soil, pruning the trees, balancing shade and sunshine, and working with the elements.
We all know Jamaica to be a paradise, and this is true! But with all the good that we are blessed with, we are susceptible to what the fates may bring. Droughts, floods, tropical storms and hurricanes are all some of the damaging elements we face, along with the health and well being of ourselves and our families as we work our farms. What we reap from our crops is always dependant on Mother Nature.
Having survived these sometimes catastrophic challenges, we must now hope for a fair price for the eventual crop, and when a fair trade price is realized, it provides for the basic necessities of life, and maybe a few “luxuries”. There is no health insurance, no life or disability insurance, no pension plan.
What we do we do for Love. Love for our families, our Farms, and our coffee.