For International Biodiversity Day, we're spotlighting and celebrating farmers that actively protect and preserve the natural environment of their farms, maintaining a balance between producing quality and prioritising sustainability.
There are so many ways that we see producers working to foster a healthy and biodiverse environment on their farms – from planting shade trees and a diverse range of plants alongside their coffee trees to dedicating swaths of land to untouched natural reserve, actively maintaining a habitat that's hospitable and beneficial to insects, birds and wildlife.
Read on to learn about some of the amazing producers we work with, and their efforts to promote and foster biodiverse environments on their land.
Luis 'Wicho' Valdés
Santa Isabel Estate, Cobán Guatemala
Wicho has taken some radical steps to reduce his reliance on chemical inputs and non-organic materials, recognising that these can lead to a vicious cycle of accelerated soil degradation and the need for more inputs.
Over the last five years, Wicho has started producing his own biofertiliser, using micro-organisms and organic compounds like coffee cherry pulp, which help make the coffee plants more naturally resistant to disease and insects. The results of this progressive approach have been significant – Wicho no longer uses pesticides and his reliance on fungicides has more than halved.
