Catholic Relief Services' Borderlands project introduced us to farmers in Nariño in 2012. Before then, most producers sold their coffee for minimal premiums to one of two exporters working on behalf of two large buyers. Through the Borderlands project, producers banded together in associations to sell coffee to quality-focused buyers. In doing so, they created a new business model.
In 2015, we started working with one of those newly-formed associations, Agrounidos, to create Cueva de los Llanos. Every year, the association invests more shared resources to improve the quality of their coffee and the sustainability of their farms. The group has received several Counter Culture Seeds grants to build communal apiaries and organic fertilizer systems, strengthening their farms and economic status as a community.
These farmers chose the name Cueva de los Llanos for their coffee to distinguish it from others in the region. It refers to a cave in the nearby town Buesaco that's renowned for containing fossils relating to the indigenous Quillacinga people.
