What lies in a good cup of coffee? Besides our gourmet beans, perhaps a bit of cream or foam… and plenty of humanity. A good cup of coffee won’t do without a good dose of humanity, and in Mogiana this is represented by family tradition, commitment to social responsibility and care for the environment.
It all starts with family tradition. Our forefathers started harvesting the rich volcanic soils of the Mogiana Valley over a century ago, and since then work relations have been based on mutual respect. Their experience was passed on father to son, and the same happened in the farm’s village. Some of the families have been there for two or three generations, and many of the people who work the land today grew up there looking up to their working fathers.
Today, almost 50 families live in the farm. The village built for the families is a self-sufficient community with health clinic, school, sport facilities, chapel and comfortable housing. Each employee home is fitted with water supply, electricity, refrigerator and a gas stove. The employees receive a living wage well above the average for the industry. They get unlimited milk from the farm and have space to grow their own vegetable-garden.
The school built for their children has around 300 students today – children from neighboring farms also attend it. And there’s room for leisure: the village has a clubhouse where folks gather to play games and dance forró (one of Brazil’s lively national rhythms, very popular in rural areas), and a full size soccer field – after all, this is Brazil we’re talking about, and every kid’s dream is to become the next Ronaldo!
Our effort to have a positive effect on other people’s lives goes way beyond the farm’s village. We get involved with local charities and school and sports fundraisers to help empower people to make a difference. We also prefer working with farms that are Utz Certified responsible growers – certification that proves proper care of the environment by setting the standards of responsible practices.
Environmentally, our goal is to completely neutralize our activities. All wastewater generated by the farm is treated, which avoids generating any pollution to the local stream. We maintain the areas of native forests untouched, except for the occasional hiking trail, which enables us to wonder among ancient trees and many different species of wildlife!
Capibaras - this large rodent is considered an endangered species. Many live peacefully in our land where they are protected from harm.
We also recycle as much as we can. When the husk is removed from the coffee bean, part of it is used to generate power for the farm, and the remaining husks are applied serving as fertilizer for the coffee plants, restarting the cycle all over again.
Thanks to our respect towards nature and people, we’ve been able to reap and sow this rich soil for over a hundred years. By being good stewards of the land and responsible employers, we’re sure our harvests will continue being this rich for the next hundred years.
