Overview

Rafael Salguero Chacón story is quite interesting, he converted himself into a coffee grower 28 years ago, while he was working as a coffee picker in the Santa Ana department, he took some Bourbon coffee seeds from the farm he was working back those days and brought them into her mother’s property in Chalatenango, that property was uncultured back then but those seeds became its first inhabitants. Rafael’s mother, Maria Isabel Chacón, was 105 years old when she died and inherited the farm to Rafael.

Rafael begun working the farm reproducing those few coffee seeds brought from several miles away, nowadays, the farm has 60% Bourbon and 40% Pacas and his 7 sons help him with the farm activities. He introduced Pacas variety 20 years ago. Bella Vista has nearly 4,200 coffee trees and 42 shade trees per hectare. Rafael keeps 3.5 hectares protected as forest, with oak, pine, cypress and encino trees. He is sure that the soil in the farm benefits from all the organic material provided by this forest, and also improves the microclimate around the farm while protects the soil against erosion.

Rafael processes his coffee inside the farm, under traditional wet milling practices and sun drying, with waste management to avoid contamination because that area is very rich in wildlife and flora. The COE lot was harvested during a three months period, selecting only ripe bourbon cherries and separating immature beans. He considers that his coffee is very healthy, with lots of sugars on each cherry thanks to the growing conditions like altitude, also he believes that pit digging and fertilization with coffee pulp and chicken manure has help him to produce high quality this year.

Rafael employs 6 permanent workers, to make all the winter cultural practices, and he employs 15 pickers for harvest time paying them 30% above legal wage. He plans to reinvest in her farm with the prize, especially in the wet milling and some inputs to get better yields and quality. The views from this farm are breathtaking, he is especially amazed by the quantity of cypress trees growing in the surroundings and he exclaimed: “I should baptize this farm again to: “Bella Vista El Ciprés” so next year, beard this in mind when looking the winning farms.

Other Statistics:
Coffee varieties: 60% Bourbón and 40% Pacas
Type of Shade: Ingas, Cuje, Aceituno, Pines, Cypress, etc.
Average Annual Rainfall: 2,000 mm
Average Temperature: 17º C
Type of Soil: Clay loam
Annual Production: (60kg) 115 bags
Mill and company where lot was process: Bella Vista coffee mill
Other land: 3.5 ha of oak, pine, cypress and encino.
Fauna: Deer, squirrels, armadillos, toucans, agouti, wild cats, etc.

GPS Coordinates:
Latitude: N 14º 19’ 31.2’’
Longitude: W 89º 08’ 41.1’’