Finca San Lorenzo, Guatemala

Located near the town of San Cristóbal Verapaz, in the cool, rainy reaches of Cobán, Guatemala, Finca
San Lorenzo nestles in the verdant hills at around 1,500 metres above sea level. San Lorenzo is the Valdés
family’s second farm, purchased in 1987 as a sort of ‘little brother’ to another of our favourite Guatemala
farms, Santa Isabel. When Lorenzo was first bought, there was only one small plot of land under coffee.
Today, the family have developed 20 different lots under coffee, covering 110 hectares of the farm. The
remaining 35 hectares are under forest cover, which the family is managing in a very interesting way (see
below).
The Valdés family have generations of coffee farming experience under their wings. Finca San Isabel was
first acquired by Luis Valdes II’s great-grandfather in 1875, when the land was granted to the Valdés family
by Guatemala's President; however, the farm was passed out of the hands of the family when it was
inherited by a nephew who sold it to a third party. It took time for the farm to return to the Valdés family,
who took charge again in 1960 when Luis Valdes I purchased it, bringing it back into the family. He started
the coffee plantation in 1965.
Don Luis and his son - also named Luis (nicknamed ‘Wicho’) - manage the farms as general and
agricultural manager, respectively. Luis’s other son, Rodrigo, helps manage Agricola Valmar, the family
export business. Now the brothers’ children (Luis’s grandchildren), spend their school holidays at the farm,
much as their fathers did when they were young. It is a true family business, run with love and devotion…..
and a lot of expertise!
When Don Luis first planted Santa Isabel, Cobán didn’t necessarily have a reputation for high-quality
coffee, due in part to the fact that coffee from the region must often be mechanically dried because of
the humid climate. Don Luis and Wicho, however, knew that the region had more to offer. By placing their
attention on improved cultivation techniques and perfecting their drying practices, they succeeded
transforming the quality of their coffee over the course of the last decade, even succeeding in placing
Guatemala’s Cup of Excellence twice! San Lorenzo bears much in common with Santa Isabel – perhaps
not surprising since it lies only 5 miles away! The farm’s Caturra and Catuaí production is indistinguishable in
the cup from Santa Isabel’s. In addition, approximately 50% of San Lorenzo is planted under Sarchimor, a
hybrid of the Costa Rican Villa Sarchi and Timor Hybrid. Thanks to its ascendant, Hibrido de Timor, the plant
is resistant to coffee leaf rust and berry or stem borer. Grown at this higher altitude, the cup quality is also
excellent.
Wicho’s background in agronomy, combined with his passion for coffee farming, has led him to implement
experimental practices that are paying off, as well, in the battle against coffee leaf rust. Both farms
implement an innovative pruning schedule, which took some 15 years of experimentation to develop. The
schedule has succeeded in greatly reducing the severity of rust’s impact on the farms. Plants are pruned
according to a five row/five year cycle that is further fine-tuned according to each plant’s need for
aeration and light. This helps to minimize applications of chemical fertilizers and pest control – in some
cases, reduced by half of what their neighbours have to apply - by reducing excess humidity and fungal
diseases. Furthermore, frequent application of lombricompost (mostly the by-products of wet-processing)
has enabled them to reduce their applications of chemical fertilisers by more than 15%.
The annual precipitation at San Lorenzo is around 3,000mm, with regular rainfall between nine and ten
months of the year. Constant rain (much of it gentle drizzle) means that flowering is very staggered, with 8-
9 flowerings per year. Due to this prolonged flowering season, coffee ripens at different stages, which
means that up to 10 passes (with breaks of up to 14 days between passes) are needed to ensure that only
the very ripest cherries are selected.
After harvesting, the red cherries are taken to the wet mill at Santa Isabel, which lies very close by. They are
then mechanically pulped. Coffee is fermented for up to 36 hours and is covered at night to maintain
constant temperatures. After fermentation, the coffee is washed and then soaked in clean water for 24
hours to remove any traces of mucilage before being dried. It is important to note that Santa Isabel and
San Lorenzo lots are processed completely separately and great care is taken to preserve the integrity of
each lot of coffee from the two farms.
Most of the coffee is dried for at least one day on the patios. Usually, after spending one day on the patio,
the coffee is stored overnight in wooden boxes before being moved to the greenhouses to dry between
15 and 30 days, or until a minimum of 30% humidity is reached. Much of San Lorenzo’s coffee is partially
dried and/or finished in guardiolas according to a very strict and controlled drying schedule. Coffee is
rotated in these mechanical driers at no more than 40°C and is rested between dryings to stabilise
humidity. Once the parchment coffee reaches a constant 11% humidity, it is rested for at least 21 days in
the warehouse before being delivered to the dry mill for milling.
Between the two farms, some 40 permanent workers are trained and employed year-around; up to 500
seasonal labourers are brought in for the coffee harvest. Wicho has commented that although many farms
in the region find it increasingly difficult to secure labour for the entirety of the harvest, the Valdés family
farms have a stable and reliable work force, despite their reputation for being very demanding with
regards to selective picking. Many of the same workers come back year after year.
Forest Conservation work:
30 hectares of San Lorenzo remain under forest conservation. It is necessary to maintain this sort of forest
cover, firstly, in order for the farm to be sustainable with regards to lumber. However, the family feel
strongly that setting aside this large tract of land is the right amount of natural conservation to preserve
wildlife in the area. In fact, throughout the farm, a very high priority is put on conservation. Although the
farm isn’t organic, great care is taken with regarding to application of agrichemicals and organic
composts are preferred. There is no hunting allowed anywhere on either San Lorenzo or Santa Isabel, and
all forest land is managed so as to optimise native flora and fauna.
Despite these efforts, maintaining forest land in this part of Guatemala is increasingly challenging.
Guatemala has lost vast swaths of native woodland because of disease and insect infestation – in many
cases brought on by monocropping. In particular, the pine forests of Cobán are currently under threat due
to a small fly that is killing pine plantations. The fly larva eats the pine needles of the trees and is voracious.
As the needles grow back, the fly eats them again, and after a couple of cycles the tree will die. This pest
has been moving towards Santa Isabel for the past three years, seemingly unstoppable.
In some areas of the farm, in addition to pine there used to be many Inga trees (nitrogen fixing trees
traditionally used for coffee shade cover). Wicho and his family are now looking for native, autochthonous
(cedar, nogal and liquiambar among others) trees to add to these. By establishing more diversity, the
family hopes to have a forest composition similar to what existed 50 years ago. This will foster a stronger,
more resilient ecosystem in the long run