Fazenda Palmital

Fazenda Palmital is located in the southern part of the Minas Gerais in the Serra do Pau D’Alho mountains. The farm has been owned and operated by the same family for over a hundred years and most of the workers at the farm share some form of generational relationship with working he land. These days 35% of the farm’s land is protected forest land, allowing for local wildlife to flourish and the farm’s energy needs are met entirely by solar power. The farm also houses its workers and ensures that their picking wages rise as the market price of the coffee does but that it won’t come back down should the market price do so.

The farm has seen a good amount of re-investment in recent years into mechanised farming processes. It now has drones for inspecting crops, and tractor pulled raking units, but these only work on more accessible land, and many workers are still required for harvesting steeper farmland.