Julia's entrepreneurship goes beyond coffee

Julia's entrepreneurship goes beyond coffee

Julia is one of the three women members of Young Entrepreneurs of San Miguel Escobar. As the daughter of some of the community’s first coffee farmers, when she was younger she accompanied her parents to the fields to harvest the ripened cherries. She now cultivates and processes her own beans, which she exports with nine other Young Entrepreneur members, all of whom are second generation producers.

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Eduardo’s drive to expand his coffee  production

Eduardo’s drive to expand his coffee production

This year, when De La Gente began accepting loan requests from the Young Entrepreneurs, Eduardo applied for and was granted a $1,050 loan to invest in fertilizer and equipment for maintaining the land he already owns. “I have always said that having this space in this group is a privilege to be part of and I feel happy and content to be part of it.”

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Guillermo combats the effects of climate change in his fields

Guillermo combats the effects of climate change in his fields

Guillermo’s fields flowered just a few months ago, instilling hope for the next harvest. “It has been a major help receiving the loan to be able to buy fertilizer for my coffee and treat my fields,” he says. “My goal is to buy more land and produce more coffee so that my production continues to grow.”

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Fostering Stability in the DLG Green Coffee Network

Fostering Stability in the DLG Green Coffee Network

De La Gente exists to provide stability to small-scale producers. We recognize that the historical and current inequity, exploitation, and value volatility within the coffee industry hinders their growth and prosperity as coffee professionals. To better understand these dynamics and our impact, it's crucial to understand various aspects of the industry.

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The Young Entrepreneur Fund

The Young Entrepreneur Fund

The Young Entrepreneurs of San Miguel Escobar is made up of twelve participants, each of whom are the children of coffee-growers. De La Gente is nurturing both their enthusiasm for coffee and professional growth by providing trainings, accompaniment, and with the support of Nossa Familia, funding to these young entrepreneurs.

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Celebrating International Women's Day by breaking biases

Celebrating International Women's Day by breaking biases

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is #BreakTheBias, which serves as a moment to recognize the biases, deliberate and unconscious, that hinder progress for not only women, but our society as a whole. With this sentiment in mind, we use this issue of the Guate Grind to highlight how La Familia Collective, one of our newest formed partner cooperatives, is breaking biases and embodying the change they hope to see in their community and the larger coffee industry.

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When they go low, we go high: combatting value volatility in the coffee industry 

When they go low, we go high: combatting value volatility in the coffee industry 

We spent the first weeks of 2022 visiting with partner cooperatives, engaging in a negotiation process unlike one to be found in the standard coffee industry. In these meetings to finalize prices for our 2022 contracts, space was given to farmers to detail the obstacles they faced in 2021 and transparently explain which they overcame and those that require additional persistence for the year ahead.

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The “convivencia” of this holiday season
Partner cooperatives De La Gente Partner cooperatives De La Gente

The “convivencia” of this holiday season

December is when two seasons in the coffee growing communities with which we work collide: The coffee harvest, which is currently in full swing, and the season of “convivencia.” Convivencia derives from the verb “convivir,” which means to coexist peacefully and harmoniously in the same space. The essence of this time of year in Guatemala cannot be captured without the use of this word.

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