The second semester harvest in Colombia is under way! I was in Huila and Santander a few weeks ago to see how the harvest was looking and to meet up with the guys from Virmax. I traveled with Alejandro Cadena of Virmax and started my visit with Steve Ford of Ritual Coffee Roasters and finished with Jeremy Tooker and Tal Mor from Four Barrel Coffee Roasters, both based in San Francisco, CA.
We started by going to La Plata, Huila and visiting the Occicafe growers association. Virmax has a cupping station set up inside the association’s warehouse where members deliver coffee. Virmax does a very strict quality control (physical and cup analysis) and only buys coffee that meets or exceeds the minimum physical requirements and displays a minimum set of cup characteristics. Alexis Villamil is the Virmax analyst stationed at the Occicafe warehouse. In addition to purchasing coffee, Alexis also visits the farmers and gives agricultural extension advice to the small coffee farmers that work with Virmax in the region.
Occicafe Growers Association in La Plata, Huila
With Alexis, we visited Finca Nueva Orquidea, the new farm of Cerbulo Yara. Cerbulo has been delivering coffee to Virmax for a few years and has formed a relationship with Ritual Coffee Roasters.
Cerbulo Yara
Then we moved on to Pitalito in the southern part of the department. Pitalito is the second largest city in Huila and it is where Virmax has a buying warehouse. Pitalito is surrounded by coffee farms, being right at the center of a U-shaped coffee region. Thank to its unique location, Pitalito is where many of the growers associations we work with in south Huila deliver their parchment. During this trip we also visited the farms of Remigio Quinayas and Omar Viveros, two more farmers with direct relationships with Ritual.
Slopes of Remigio Quinayas’ farm
From Pitalito we traveled north to the town of Gigante and the El Desarrollo growers association. El Desarrollo produces the coffees under the Matambo brand. During our visit we met with the leaders of the group in their facilities in town, where they also have a full cupping lab.
Edilfonso Yara at the El Desarrollo warehouse
That evening I went back to Pitalito and spent the next day at the Virmax warehouse with Luis Samboni, one of the Virmax quality analysts stationed in Pitalito, to watch and participate in the buying process from beginning to end. Unfortunately I was there during the very first pickings and only a few lots were delivered. But these lots were good enough to be purchased.
Click here for a photo set of the step by step process of the purchase of lot PIT-1405
The next day I met up with Alejandro and the guys from Four Barrel. We went to visit the Andino Especial growers association in Bruselas, Huila, a municipality not very far from Pitalito. We visited the farms of Helio Rico, former president of the association and his neighbor, David Burbano from whom Four Barrel had recently received a farmer lot that they were very happy with.
Helio Rico on his farm
David Burbano and his family
After spending the night in Pitalito, the next day we returned to the Andino warehouse for a day of cupping and buying… but unfortunately, the power was out in town and the generator wasn’t sufficient to power the operation. We met with members of the Andino group who were gathering for an association meeting.
Andino Especial warehouse in Bruselas
With our new-found time and in the Colombian habit of fitting one more thing in the plan, we decided to visit San Agustin and the farm of Alejandro Ortega before speeding off to Neiva to catch our flight to Bogota.
Alejandro Ortega in his beneficio
The following day we flew from Bogota to Bucaramanga in Santander and then drove one hour to Hacienda El Roble. This is a large, Organic, Rainforest Alliance, Bird Friendly, certified farm with which Virmax has begun to work with providing technical assistance to improve coffee quality. We stayed at the hotel on the farm, ate wonderful meals, and toured the farm on horseback.
Horseback under the canopy
We toured the farm’s coffee varietal garden with 40+ different coffee varieties and we cupped some of the very early harvest lots with Katerinne Gutierrez, the Virmax analyst who is working this harvest on the farm to help with quality improvements. We saw their roasting operation where they roast coffee from the farm for the domestic market. Tal was able to give some advice on roasting, which was well received. After that we headed out to the airport and back to Bogota.
Osvaldo Acevedo in the Hacienda El Roble varietal garden.
Observations and Analysis:
In Huila, coffee rust is still apparent and a concern for all coffee farmers. Some farmers are doing a better job of controlling the fungus than others by applying systemic fungicides such as Alto-100 and regular applications of copper oxide. Some farmers, whether for lack of funds or misinformation are choosing to ride it out. With falling leaves and dying branches, these trees are being pruned and won’t produce for at least eighteen months.
Early indications are that the second semester harvest has better physical and cup quality than the first. And while volumes will be better, we are not expecting a return to a “normal” Colombian output. We are not expecting any significant volume out of Cauca. In Huila and Tolima, this harvest will be short, it started late and constant rain in southern Colombia is not helping with harvesting or drying. But improved quality is encouraging.
For the future, many farmers are following FNC lead by planting Castillo trees, with hopes for reduced disease and increased volume, but at the cost of cup score potential. Lower yield, higher risk varieties, such as Caturra, Typica or Bourbon, require more attention but have the ability to produce better quality farmer lots.
Increased rains during the months of August & September caused a late flowering that combined with pruning and replanting are the ingredients for a later than usual first semester harvest in 2011. We will have to see the end of the 2nd semester harvest and how the weather progresses during the next few months to have a better idea of volumes for the 1st half of 2011.
In Santander, Hacienda El Roble is beautiful, well organized and has great potential. First steps were a reorganization of the farm into different lots based on topography, micro climate and coffee variety. Interns from coffee specific programs in technical schools were brought in to lead the picking. Physical improvements were made in processing and drying. And a Virmax quality control technician has been living at the farm overseeing quality improvements and conducting daily cuppings that help provide feedback on the ground.
Results are encouraging, picked coffee cherries have much better ripe consistency and the processing improvements are reducing defects. It is still very early in the harvest in Santander, and since this is the first year of this new partnership, Virmax is establishing the baseline. Preliminary cuppings are positive and we are anxious to see what we’ll have to offer from Hacienda El Roble during this crop.
Badi Bradley
