Building a Better Future, One Farm at a Time
For years, small coffee farmers in the La Botija Mountains of southern Honduras have faced the same problem. They could grow good coffee and work hard to care for their land, but when harvest came, they had very few options for selling it. The farms are small and scattered throughout the mountains, the roads are difficult, and many buyers simply didn’t find it worthwhile to make the trip.
Without the equipment to process their own coffee, these farmers often had little choice but to sell freshly harvested coffee cherries at steep discounted prices to predatory buyers. It’s a problem we’ve been working to change, one relationship at a time, for several years.
This summer, we were able to take a big step forward. Three wet-mills and drying patios were built on the farms of producers who have faithfully worked with San Lázaro for years. These patios give farmers the ability to de-pulp, ferment wash and dry their own coffee right where it is grown. Four Mission Lazarus service teams from churches in the U.S. came to this isolated mountainous region to help make it happen, working alongside the families to build each patio from the ground up.
Three Farms, Three Families
The first patio was built at the home of Ada Gloria Tercero, a 59-year-old homemaker and coffee producer who has sold her harvest to San Lázaro since 2021. Ada Gloria’s farm is small, but eight people in her family depend on it. Every season, she faithfully delivers her entire harvest. Now, for the first time, she has the ability to process coffee on her own property and create more value from what her land already produces.
Another was built for Don Anselmo Rivera, one of the first producers in the area to begin working with San Lázaro. Our relationship with him dates back to 2018, when he was facing the same problem as so many of his neighbors: he had good coffee to sell, but no one willing to make the difficult trip up the mountain to buy it. This summer, as his new patio was being built, his wife and grandson welcomed the service teams with music. After years of imagining something like this for his farm, it was finally happening.
The third patio belongs to Darwin Alberto Gómez, a 38-year-old farmer who supports seven members of his family. Darwin grows several varieties of coffee, including a small plot of Geisha, a specialty variety that can command a much higher price when it is processed well. Until now, he had no way to process it separately, so his Geisha was sold for the same price as any other coffee cherry. With his new patio, he finally has the opportunity to process that coffee differently and receive a price that better reflects its quality.
Altogether, 23 people in these three families depend on these farms. That’s what makes this project so exciting. These processing patios are fairly simple to build, but what they can mean for a family is much bigger: more opportunity, more independence and a better chance to earn what their hard work is actually worth.
Our hope through investing in small producers on our mountainside is to share the love of Christ. This only happens in genuine relationships, when we work side by side with these families to meet practical needs and help them live better lives.
We care about producing exceptional coffee, but we care even more about the people connected to it. When you buy San Lázaro Coffee, you help us continue investing in the people who work on our farm and in small producers throughout the communities around us. Your purchases create opportunities that allow families to benefit more fully from the work of their own hands.
This upcoming harvest will be the first with the new patios in place. We’re excited to see what that means for Ada Gloria, Don Anselmo, Darwin and their families. And we’re grateful that every bag of San Lázaro Coffee allows you to be part of something that goes far beyond your morning cup.
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