2022 was quite a year, and here are the highlights! The Union inaugurated new roasting and hosting facilities, La Familia Collective opened the first specialty coffee shop in San Miguel Escobar, and a faculty-led trip from the University of Wisconsin Eau-Claire helped Ija’tz Cooperative build a new warehouse for their machinery.

The spirit of the holidays can be felt throughout the community of San Miguel Escobar as we eagerly await celebrations, customs, and coming together. In preparation of the holidays, we asked second generation coffee producers in San Miguel Escobar what they look forward to the most this time of year.

We invite you to join us for another year of empowering coffee producers among our eight partner cooperatives.

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.

Siblings Claudia and Luis, second generation coffee farmers, have both decided to carry on the family tradition of cultivating coffee while envisioning a more just and inclusive industry.

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.”

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.”

Alfonso, the leader of the Young Entrepreneurs of San Miguel Escobar shares how he was introduced to coffee, what draws him to this work, and his hopes for the group.