José Luis Melgara, Finca Plan Los Pinos

But around 2009, many of us here in El Pinal switched to coffee because we hoped it would increase our income. I've come a long way since then, learning a lot about growing better coffee, increasing yields, working more efficiently, and implementing helpful practices like water management, using the pulp as a free, natural fertilizer, or—more recently—planting avocado trees between the rows of coffee to provide shade while diversifying and strengthening our income streams.

So, although things are often difficult, we are able to make a living, and I work closely with my brothers and all our friends here in El Pinal. Fifteen people from our community are members of Cafesmo, and we pool much of our coffee to sell as our El Pinal Premium Blend in Europe.

My wife Maria and I have four children. An adult son and daughter who traveled to the United States. They are working there to save money, and once they have enough, they will return home to build their own houses, buy a small plot of land, and start growing their own produce. Maybe coffee, maybe not.

We also have a much younger boy and girl who, thankfully, live with us. Maria works the land with me whenever she can, but she also wants to be around the children, so she mainly handles the parts of the business we can do from home: cleaning, washing, and drying the coffee beans, cooking meals for the pickers during harvest season, and helping the children with their homework. Now that I think about it, she's even busier than I am, and our family and our lives would fall apart if she weren't here with us every day.

In any case, we are a happy family and we are also happy to grow great coffee.