Francy Castillo

BY: Roxanne Matte-Guilbault

I want to take a moment to tell you about Francy Castillo, the producer of our new gold bag, a Gesha from Colombia that we are offering in a limited edition! A beautiful, delicate bean that grows at 2,150 metres above sea level.

I had the chance to speak with her last week, along with Apex, our importing partner. Francy is a truly inspiring young woman, and speaking with her really helped me see more of the effort it takes to keep drinking and offering quality coffees, while doing so ethically.

Francy grew up on her parents’ farm, which has been growing coffee for 30 years now. She dreamed of one day having her own land and growing her own coffee. After a few years working with her parents, she wanted to go further and raise the quality of the product, which is why she started studying agronomy remotely while continuing to work on the farm. With her studies now completed, this 26-year-old woman grows several varieties of coffee of remarkable quality on her own plot of land next to her parents’.

Francy told me that growing coffee at such a high altitude comes with certain challenges. The nights are cool and the trees and fruit can easily be affected. The plants absolutely must be able to adapt as they grow, which is why it’s impossible to buy mature plants and plant them. All plants must be started on the farm from seed and be minimally protected from the weather to help them adapt. About 20% of the seedlings won’t make it to maturity. At this stage, it is essential to feed the soil with top-quality fertilizers. This is when everything happens, and if the soil isn’t well cared for, the coffee harvest will suffer.

When harvest time comes, it’s far from restful! The cherries are picked during the week, mostly by women from the area. They are carefully hand-picked, making sure each fruit is ripe. When the weekend arrives, it’s time to process the cherries to extract the precious seeds. According to Francy, this time of year is intense, with work 7 days a week! She admitted that the rest of the year is far from restful too… because her involvement in the coffee world doesn’t stop there! She has made it her mission to share her knowledge of agronomy with other farmers in the region, in order to raise quality and the standard of living in Arboleda. At first, it was hard for her to be taken seriously by local producers because of her young age. However, she has the tools to demonstrate the results of what she recommends, thanks to a laboratory she had built in the village. The farmers were also very reluctant at first to invest in quality fertilizers, long before they could enjoy the fruits of their labour. But as time goes by, trust has grown between Francy and the farmers in the region, who now come to her for advice and tips that allow them to enjoy better harvests, better profits and, with them, a better quality of life.

With the lack of succession on coffee farms being a recurring problem in the industry, Francy focuses on agricultural education for young people in the region. It is with initiatives like the ones Francy puts in place every day that the future of coffee is assured, that our cups will be filled with ever more delicious coffees, and above all, that life will be sweeter for farmers in producing countries.