La Villa - Colombia 2015 Verified listing

CoE 2015 Ranking: 19b

Farm: La Villa

Farmer: Roberto Carvajal Penagos

Birth Place & Date: Garzón, Huila, October 1st, 1969

Age: 45

Parents: Carlos Julio Carvajal& Rosa Elena Penagos

Siblings: 7

Wife’s Name: Nora Joven Murcia

Children: 6

Academic Level: Primary School

Farm: Las Villas – El Futuro

Vereda (Rural District): La Miguela

Corregimiento: no

Municipality: Guadalupe

Department: Huila

Total Area Grown with Coffee: 7.97hectares

% planted with resistant varieties (Colombia y Castillo): 39.5%

% planted with susceptible varieties (Caturra): 60.5%

% of Young Technologically Advanced Coffee Plantations: 100%

Other farm crops: no

Post-harvest processing (“Beneficio”):Pulping machine withlater quick wash

Drying: in the sun(“elba” roof house)

Certifications: UTZ, FLO, 4C

Score at Cup of Excellence 2015: 86.33

Farmer’s Biography:

“With God I wake up, with God I go to bed,” is my first sentence of the day. Then I drink a great cup of the coffee grown on my farm and I’m ready to start my workday. I’m Roberto Carvajal Penagos, a proud Colombia n coffee grower.

I was born in the municipality of Garzón, the diocesan capital of Huila, on October 1st, 1969. I am 45 years old, the son of farming parents: my father Carlos Julio Carvajal and my mother Rosa Elena Penagos, to whom I’m grateful for having educated me and taught me to love and feel passion for coffee growing.

I lived my childhood and youth in the San Antonio del Pescado rural district, which belongs to the municipality of Garzón. I worked a large part of my life as a day laborer and coffee picker in the municipality of Guadalupe. It was then that I met my future wife, Nora Joven Murcia, with whom I have spent all this time. She has been my support in all the decisions I have made. I have six children and I thank God for having blessed me with a large, beautiful and very united family.

In 2004 I had a great opportunity and bought the Las Villas farm, a little plot that I started seeing as a business. I began the work of modernizing my coffee plantations, seeking the help of the Colombia n Coffee Growers Federation. I started implementing good agricultural practices and in 2010 I took part for the first time in the Cup of Excellence competition; I did not qualify as a finalist, but there I realized I had to persevere to achieve my goals, and now I thank God and my family for having reached the 19b ranking in this year’s competition. I feel happy and proud for being in this position, I only hope to live many years more to continue participating and demonstrate that everything that one longs for can be achieved. Finally, I want to say a thousand thanks and blessings, and the doors of my farm and my family will always be open.