Rounton Coffee Roasters - Colombia: Agustino Forest

Agustino Forest is a group of 1000 smallholders spread across 5 regions of San Agustin in Huila; Los Cauchos, La Llanada, Alto de Obispos, La Argentina and Las Eras. The Agustino Forest programme was set up around 6 years ago with 104 smallholder families with an aim to promote coffee growing to the smallholder communities rather than producing crops for the illegal drugs trade. It was very successful and the programme has now expanded to incorporate 1000 smallholders all striving to produce coffee of outstanding quality. The programme also has a strong focus on environmental conservation and requires members to either have shade trees on their plantation or an area set aside for a natural reserve. It is believed that responsible coffee production can offset the effects of illicit drug production which took place in the area under guerrilla rule in the early 2000’s.