Román Hernandez
Los Cedros

Román is one of the old guard of the coffee co-op and has been sending coffee to Farmer to Farmer since the first shipment almost fifteen years ago. He has been working steadily to increase the quality of his coffee, which has resulted in higher cupping scores. We would also like to celebrate with Román's family the completion of their new house this year. They formed the adobes themselves and built the house on their own in Los Cedros, Honduras. Wow!

Every time we visit Román's farm, we are amazed at the vibrancy of the gardens around the house. This place is like a Permaculture dream farm and he doesn't even know it. There are fruit trees and flowers everywhere and a menagerie of farm animals. Whenever we visit, an amazing cup of coffee and a baked good are presented to us before the hike to the organic coffee plot.

Román's story is one of persistence. When the organic coffee co-op first started, there was a wave of enthusiasm among farmers. Many of them, like Román, were organic by default. They had never used chemicals and had their coffee already growing under shade trees. A promoter came to their village and talked about how organic coffee was getting almost double the price, and these "natural" coffee farmers said "where do we sign?" In addition, those were heady new days for the cloud forest national park that is above Román's farm. It was assumed that visitors from around the world would come to Honduras to see the parks. Román's wife joined the women's group within the co-op and learned to make crafts out of used chip bags. It was a full package of organic coffee, tourism, and crafts. It also never materialized.

It is hard to believe that Honduras was poised to become a tourism center just 20 years ago. There are beautiful national parks, amazing scuba diving, miles of incredible beaches, mayan ruins, authentic colonial towns, agricultural tourism possibilities, amazing food, and warm and friendly people. Since then, Honduras has become one of the most dangerous countries on Earth. It has been described as a "Narco Estado," where drug money has corrupted politics. Salvadoran gangs control the cities. And tourism has effectively stopped. In addition, climate change has brought fungal disease and insects to coffee farms. The warmer temperatures promote the growth of La Roya, the dreaded coffee rust.

Throughout all of this, Román and his family have persisted. Perhaps it is his family's strong faith in God that makes them so persistent. When others in his area dropped out of the co-op due to low sales and extra work, Román stayed in. Year after year, he would be the only one to send coffee from his village. When the Roya came and killed his whole organic plantation of heirloom coffee, he replanted with resistant varieties. When his cupping numbers lagged behind other producers, he built a drying shelter and has been improving his organic practices to improve the quality.

His persistence is paying off. Since the days of only a few farmers like Román sticking with the co-op, now there are more and more farmers wanting to join and they are poised to start building an office and warehouse. A few years ago, Román was invited by Farmer to Farmer to travel to Guatemala to visit the farmers there. The interchange helped him see new techniques for growing coffee. Farmer to Farmer is also helping to support his youngest daughter and niece to attend secondary school (on pause with the COVID). His family's coffee cupping numbers were higher this year due to all of their hard work. And they recently completed work on their new house.

We are proud to know Román and his family.