El Porvenir (2015) - Colombia North 2015 Verified listing

Farmer: Raúl Durán (3rd place in Cup of Excellence 2015)

Age: 68 years old

Farm: El Porvenir

Vereda (Rural District): Jordán

Corregimiento (Sub-division): Gaitania

Municipality: Planadas

Department: Tolima

Score at Cup of Excellence 2015: 88.85

Farmer’s Biography:

Raúl Durán, besides being a coffee grower and having belonged, as an extensionist, to the Colombia n Coffee Growers Federation (FNC), is a guild leader who is part of the Municipal Coffee Growers Committee of Planadas, where he works for well-being of coffee farmers in his region.

Of his 68 years old, he has devoted 42 years to coffee and has always striven for producing a high-quality coffee. In 2006 he also took part in the Cup of Excellence competition and was ranked 24^th.

Born in Villarrica (Tolima), he comes from a large family. He is the father of four children, to whom he has sought to instill love for coffee. A few minutes after the announcement that he won the third place in the Cup of Excellence 2015, his daughter-in-law, Astrid Medina, the wife of his eldest son, also named Raúl, celebrated the triumph of her first place in the competition.

For don Raúl, such events as Cup of Excellence and triumphs like those obtained by him and Mrs. Astrid, “serve as an example for coffee growers in Colombia to accept and implement the recommendations of the FNC extensionists to thus produce high-quality coffee.”