85.70

CoE 2015 Ranking: 25

Farm: La Golondrina

Farmer: Lourdes Meneses Gómez

Birth Place & Date: Pitalito, Huila, September 19, 1966

Age: 49

Parents: Patrocinio Meneses / Cecilia Gómez

Siblings: 7

Husband’s Name: Single mother

Children: 4

Study Level: Secondary School

Farm: La Golondrina

Vereda (Rural District): El Mesón

Town: Bruselas

Municipality: Pitalito

Department: Huila

Total Area Grown with Coffee: 2.46 hectares

% planted with resistant varieties (Colombia y Castillo): 80%

% planted with susceptible varieties (Caturra): 20%

% of Young Technologically Advanced Coffee Plantations: 100%

Other farm crops: banana, corn.

Post-harvest processing (“Beneficio”): natural fermentation

Drying: in the sun(parabolic system)

Certifications: FLO

Score at Cup of Excellence 2015: 85.70

Farmer’s Biography:

She describes herself as a woman who every day thanks the work example taught, sometimes mandatorily, by her parents both to her and her siblings. She has learnt to face daily challenges of her destiny since she became a single mother. Thanks to her small coffee business, given as an anticipated inheritance, and hard work to produce coffee and other products, such as banana, yucca, corn and beans (in addition to her kitchen garden), she has managed to provide secondary school to all her children.

"I've had to work as a day laborer and coffee hand-picker to fully pay costs of the responsibilities I have taken over," Lourdes says. “It’s the example I give to my children and eight grandchildren."

“I'm restless, inquisitive, strict, consistent in my goals and very responsible for my actions. I decided to try what it was to take part in a quality competition, thinking about giving more value and meaning to my work. I hear and am respectful of others’ opinions. I believe in the coffee institutions because they have for long supported coffee growers. I’m convinced that my coffee is a healthy and well-processed product, as the Federation teaches us. I increasingly love my farm and I think I won’t leave it. I believe in associativity and so I decided to belong to an association called “Brisas del Guarapas”, following their recommendations and sharing with other coffee farmers the experiences that will be useful for me to improve what has been done so far.