This year’s Summit emphasized demonstrations and tangential experience. Motivated farmers in Yepocapa have been asking for years how they can access information about what the higher-paying specialty market is looking for, and how they can prepare their product in order to engage with specialty buyers
The purpose of the Coffee Quality Summit is to bring recognition and education to farmers who have been affected by volcanic eruptions, drought, coffee diseases, low prices, migration and conflict.
Participation in the higher-paying, more direct specialty coffee industry is supported through targeted education and capacity building activities.
The goal this year was to deliver that information, and more, to support the farmers’ own understanding of what the market wants so they themselves can better understand and maneuver within this market. Personal experience and presentations in cupping different varieties, various defects, and coffees of different qualities will help farmers make decisions regarding what to target with their in-field, time-of-harvest, and post-harvest management.
Other topics covered included economics, pricing, and the buying process from the perspective of a specialty green coffee buyer, export and import logistics specific to specialty supply chains between the United States and Guatemala, field management and post-harvest processing methods known to support smallholders achieving high cup quality, and much more!
Del Fuego has the opportunity to also provide follow-up after the event, to work alongside Yepocapa farmers during upcoming field management and harvest seasons, to demonstrate activities that target high cup-quality and favorable flavor profiles.
