Dear Green Coffee: Colombia, Finca La Primavera, Washed

In Silvania, one and a half hours from Bogota, Francisco Tamayo is working to make Finca La Primavera a model for sustainable coffee farming in Colombia.

Francisco’s family arrived to Silvania in 1976 when coffee was already planted on the fam, which his grandparents continued to cultivate. Land near Bogota is increasingly being used for recreation rather than agriculture, but Cundinamarca was a major coffee producer before the regions that currently dominate production rose to prominence. In the 1980’s, there was an economic crisis in Colombia that led to a crisis in coffee prices and Francisco’s family gave up coffee farming in favour of raising beef cattle and pigs.

Finca La Primavera is taking extra steps beyond organic production to also become verified Bird Friendly Representatives from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Institute in Washington, DC, who manage the certification’s regulations, visited the farm to give recommendations. They saw La Primavera as a prime example of ecosystem restoration. La Primavera has planted more than one thousand trees of various native species to act as both shade for the coffee and habitats for birds and small mammals.

Francisco describes La Primavera’s philosophy through the farm’s motto: sustainable, fair, and positive. “Sustainable because of our work with the natural environment and being Rainforest Alliance certified, for our farm’s biodiversity and the natural reserve we have, for farming organically, including raising bees to promote pollination."