José Luis Melara Hernández, Finca Plan los Pinos

I started cultivating coffee in 2009. My parents grew coffee, but just a few plants in the middle of other crops, and those were only for home consumption. 

But back around 2009, many of us here in El Pinal shifted to coffee because we were hopeful that this could increase our income. I’ve come a long way since then” learning so much about how to grow better coffees, increase yields, work more efficiently, and how to implement helpful practices like water management, using pulp as a natural and costless fertilizer, or – more recently – planting avocado trees between the rows of coffees to provide shadow and at the same time diversify and strengthen our sources of income. 

So, while things are often tough, we are able to make a living, and I work closely together with my brothers and all our friends here in El Pinal. Fifteen people in our hamlet are Cafesmo members and we put much of our coffee together to sell it as our El Pinal Premium Blend in Europe.

My wife María and I have four children. An adult son and daughter who traveled to the US. They’re 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 crops. Maybe coffee, maybe not.

We also have a much smaller boy and girl, who thankfully live with us. María works the land with me whenever she can, but she also wants to be close to the children, so she mainly works the parts of the business that we can do from our home: clean, wash, and dry coffees, cook meals for the pickers during the harvest season, and help the children with their homework. Come to think of it, she is busier even than I, and our family and lives would crumble apart if she weren’t here with us every day.

Anyway, we’re a happy family and we’re also happy to grow great coffee!

Farm facts

2,2 hectares, at 1,650 – 1,700 meters, where we grow Pacas and Lempira varietals.

There grow many pine trees on and around our finca. Trees that were there long before we started growing coffee. Now, we are working on agroforestry. There are also avocado, plum and orange trees, as well as local trees.

The finca is Fair Trade, Organic and RFA certified.