Welcome to The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis.

This series will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show.

Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing.

In this first episode, we cover the fundamentals of what makes a coffee farm viable. We look at how farms measure success and why so few know whether they're actually profitable.

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Related podcast episodes:

Lucia:

• 79: Farm First: Lalo Perez on Long-Term Coffee Health

James:

• The Science of Coffee: The Magic of Soils
• The Science of Coffee: Plant Genetics

People mentioned in the episode:

• Fernando Castillo Guatemala
• Paulino Quintero, Colombia
• Orlando Osoria, Colombia
• Julia Ortega, Mexico
• Sergio de la Vequia, Mexico
• Hugo Lopez, Innovakit
• Manuel Mata, Colombia
• Sam Knowlton, Soil Symbiotics
• Lalo Perez, Biofilia

Resources:

• Anacafe technical management
• Coffee Cascara Compost Guidelines (English)
• Compostaje de la pulpa/cáscara de café (Espanol)
• Netafim Drip Irrigation manual
• Innovakit: abonador (fertiliser applicator)
• Innovakit: aroplateo (tree guard for weed whacking)
• Innovakit: selector de arvenses (low-drift sprayer)
• Innovakit: canguaro (sleeves)
• World Coffee Research variety catalogue
• Recommended varieties: Centroamericano, H1, H16, Mundo Maya
• Coffee&Climate Toolbox
• Access Agriculture
• World Coffee Research Resources
• Barista Hustle’s Coffee Farm Management series

The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations:

The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro

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