Costa Rica Esperanza

Farmlevel story

Esperanza, meaning “hope” in Spanish, comes to us from the Coopeldos cooperative in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste Province, home to the renowned Monteverde Cloud Forest, one of the country’s largest eco-tourism destinations.

Founded in 1971, Coopeldos represents 342 producers, each farming an average of 1 to 1.5 hectares of land. The cooperative’s origins trace back to Don Charía, its founder, who generously donated his land to support its mission upon his passing. We visited Coopeldos for the first time in Spring 2024 and are thrilled to feature this offering for the first time.

Coopeldos is facing a widespread challenge common in the coffee-growing world: farm abandonment. Many coffee farmers are shifting their focus away from maintaining their farms, opting instead to work in the thriving local tourism sector. This neglect leaves coffee plants vulnerable to diseases, which are costly and difficult to manage once established. Combined with climate challenges, such as hurricanes along the coast, these issues pose a significant threat to the cooperative’s long-term vitality. 

To adapt, the cooperative is incentivizing its aging farmers to remain in the industry by offering farm management packages to address the labor shortage. They are also incentivizing growers to plant new, more productive and disease-tolerant coffee varieties. To support these efforts, producers are provided with a line of credit to fund operations, which they can repay through their harvests in various ways.

This initiative is gaining traction, with a goal of expanding to 100 hectares within the next 5-6 years. “It’s not about the new generation taking over, it’s about getting them involved and excited so they can take over eventually,” explains Alejandro, Coopeldos’ director. “It’s a stressful thought to have to take over and fill their parents’ shoes, and it’s more exciting to let them be involved and then once they are in it, they can take over.”