Guanacaste Coffee Coop Awarded $45K

The Agriculture and Livestock Ministry awarded the Santa Elena coffee cooperative with ¢25 million (about $45,500) for sustainable and environmentally friendly farming.

The cooperative, in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, began in 1972 and today boasts 62 members who together export 500 quintals (about 50,000 pounds) of coffee per year, according to a ministry press release.

It offers tours of five of its members’ farms, including El Jardín, an organic coffee farm. The tours last three hours and expose coffee lovers to the processes of growing, milling, toasting, and packing coffee.

“We want people to get to know coffee production that is in harmony with nature,” said Zinnia Villalobos, the general manager of the cooperative.