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FARM WORK: (from left) Building a road to help bring clean water to the town; clearing land where a water tank will be installed. protect both their crops and the environment by planting shade trees to surround their coffee. "You can see all of the trees here," he says. "This protects and maintains the cool climate." The trees he points to didn't exist when his father gave him the then-barren field. It's also worth noting that the coffee trees themselves con- vert carbon dioxide into oxygen, so the plants help protect the environment that sustains them. APPROACHING HARVEST The coffee harvest is going well for Toñito. It's now early July, and the rains have been strong. Toñito is excited to show off his plants as cherries start developing. "These beans are starting to form themselves," he says. "Every day, every month, the beans get bigger and bigger until the harvest arrives." With proper fertilizer for his field, Toñito expects to see more beans on each tree as well as fuller, healthier fruit. With fair loans and professional train- ing, UMF is helping to provide the tools so he can finally reap the rewards of careful field management. Toñito explains how coffee flowers in three separate stages. These distinct flowerings lead to three separate harvests, or pick- ings, about two weeks apart from each other, though they aren't all of the same quality. The first picking is typically of poorer quality, followed by two to three higher-quality flowerings, and then a final poorer-quality showing. "We start to pick the first beans in December, but they aren't very good," he says. The earli- est beans are often those that have been damaged by weather or other external factors and haven't had a chance to fully develop. "In January, the money comes in," he says, referring to the time of year when the best beans are ready to pick. Not surprisingly, the timing of the harvest depends on the climate of the farm. "When [the altitude] is higher, it stays colder and the harvest is later." This is the phenomenon that creates better coffees from higher altitudes—the colder climate and larger variations in tem- perature cause the bean to develop slowly. Often, complexity in flavor results. Like most systematic changes, the developments on Toñito's land carry some unexpected consequences. Although Toñito considers himself a coffee farmer first and foremost, the corn and beans he grows on other sections of his land are important subsistence crops for his family. And the strong—albeit late- arriving—rains that have helped his coffee flourish have damaged many of the bean plants. Toñito remains focused despite the bean dilemma. Like most seasoned farmers, he knows to accept surprises and fluctua- tions with two-pronged thinking: On the one hand, he doesn't get hung up on factors beyond his control. On the other, he's determined to shape his land and community in those areas that are malleable—fertilizer selection, tree cover and re- investment in the land, for example. "It can be achieved, he says, "but we will need to do lots of work." In 50 years, maybe his grandchildren will look back to his house and the changes that he brought about in the community, and they will realize just how far San Carlos has come. freshcup.com October 2011 49