Finca El Sauce - La Uva Honey

From the outside, Hilda Mejía and Álvaro Ramírez Jáuregui look like shy, tranquil farmers. However, after a few minutes of conversation, you realize first impressions are not always true. The couple behind Finca El Sauce enjoys discussing politics around the table and has a long history of work with economia campesina (peasant economy). Their passion for coffee is fuelled by a sense of social and environmental responsibility that translates into every aspect of their farm. They haven't renewd their organic certification for 2021, yet their practices remain organic.

Being a coffee grower was Álvaro’s childhood dream. Unlike his wife, he didn’t come from a farming family. Born in Tolima, his boyhood coincided with the pinnacle of the FNC (Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia), a time when Colombian coffee was thriving. “The coffee farms were the best ones. They always had light and water pipelines. Growers had status. The FNC had a bank and exported 75% of all the country’s coffee”, he recalls. Álvaro nursed this vision throughout all of his adult life. He combined his savings with Hilda’s, a systems engineer, to buy El Sauce in 2003.

Despite not having direct experience with farming at the time, Álvaro had spent years traveling the country first as an agricultural advisor and consultant and later executing projects in environmental development. El Sauce is not all about him, though. They both wished to build a profitable farm and help generate more work in the countryside. “We try to help our neighbours, all coffee farmers as well, and show them the benefits of environmental practices. We know we can’t just tell them what to do. They won’t believe us,” Hilda explains. “That is one of the reasons why we want to be successful. Then we can lead by example,” Álvaro adds.

The couple moved from San Gil, a town one hour away from the farm, six years ago when both their kids, now 27 and 29 years old, moved away for their studies. Though coffee was always Álvaro’s dream, El Sauce’s most profitable products are actually eggs! The farm has 8,000 chickens and stocks 2 local markets. “Unlike coffee, you can sell eggs all year round. It is less risky and gives us liquidity. Plus we have all the manure we need to fertilize the coffee plants,” says Álvaro. “If you think prices are unstable in coffee, you should see eggs. It’s crazy,” he laughs.

Chicken manure is one of the main fertilizers used by organic coffee farmers in Santander. In El Sauce, the droppings are mixed with coffee skins and spread around the farm. According to Álvaro, “soil in the area tends to be acid and it helps balance the pH.” Other than fertilizing and strategic pruning, there is little interference with the trees on the farm. The couple believes in “letting nature do its thing” and says altitude is better than any pesticide. Located at 1850 m above sea level and temperatures between 20C and 25C, they can rely on nature’s best barrier against pests and diseases.