La Revancha is a family-owned coffee estate, nested in the mountains of the Tuma La Dalia Community. The farm employs about 60 permanent workers, although this number grows drastically during the harvest season. Some workers live in the surrounding communities, but there are also 30 houses located on the farm. There is also a school with around 70 students – for the children of La Revancha workers – with a small computer room and access to medical services.
The farm has a committee of workers called The Farmworkers Committee. This is a group of democratically elected farm workers, who are responsible for the management of the farmworkers premium Union Hand-Roasted pays. For every pound of coffee sold, Union pays an additional premium that goes into a separate community fund. The premium has been invested in several project varying from improving sanitary facilities, kitchens, roofs, food for the elderly, and transportation for students. Each year the committee decides on priorities, and in 2019 a pig and chicken breeding project started. Meat and eggs contribute to farmworkers well-being and nutritional diversity.
La Revancha has been rejuvenating their coffee plantation by planting varieties more suitable to the area, increasing both yield and quality of their coffee. The farm is shade grown, the environmentally friendly method of farming, with different shade trees. Coffee grows at an altitude of 1100 m.a.s.l. and the farm is divided into different plots, with different varietals: Parainema, Millenium but also Caturras. The coffee is washed at the farm’s wet mill, and dried in mechanical driers as well as on the patio.
Rodrigo González, a retired Nicaraguan army general, and his wife Cecilia Pineda, a lawyer, have been the owners of La Revancha for over 18 years. “We’ve seen our employees empowered. The benefits of this project are not only monetary for the farmworkers– we see other types of benefits as well: our workers feel empowered are happy and work with more enthusiasm. That’s a big win for us” said Rodrigo González.
June 15, 2020
