Mario Montoya Hernandez

Mario Montoya is a determined, persevering person who is proud to be a coffee farmer. Coffee production is a family tradition since his father also cultivated coffee, where he constantly helped as a child with his siblings. He remembers being incredibly happy when he was a kid, and one day asked his father to give him a small piece of land where they had grown bananas, but his father sadly let the cows eat them. He loved bananas, he was 10 years old and thought of using the plot to plant more bananas! Now he remembers, with immense joy and admiration what the land has become, a coffee farm.

In his youth, life led him to emigrate to the United States for a few years to grow as a person and earn a living. While the life experience he had was good, Mario realized he could have a good life in his homeland as well. This motivated him to return to his town in Concepción de Minas, Chiquimula. In 1998 he dedicated himself to learning how to manage his farm and make it productive. Then in 2012, coffee leaf rust hit the region, requiring him to innovate and change, which led to planting varieties such as catimor, which is 45% of his plantation, followed by 25% catuai, and 30% pacamara today.

On his farm, he works all-year-round hand in hand with his eldest son Mario Fernando and his wife Rosa Delia. They process washed coffee and do dry fermentation (without water). During this harvest, they have experimented with anaerobic fermentation to create coffees with more complex profiles, especially the Pacamara variety. Hence, Mario has worked in coffee for 23 years, and he says, “I am motivated by the search of opportunities since I learned about the quality of coffee I produce. I want to be recognized in the international coffee market, and my farm Picacho to be remembered for quality.”