As a coffee-producing country, Panama is associated with high-end coffees like Geisha. Top-flight coffees are grown by producers with cutting-edge technology and marketed as luxury brand items. But there is much more to Panama than just Geisha, and not all farms are so successful.

Despite the favorable natural conditions for coffee production, many farmers lack the training, education, capital or motivation to run their farms to reach their maximum potential. Some even struggle to keep their farms afloat because of inadequate funds and facilities. Cuatro Caminos invests in such farms and rehabilitates them, providing employment and training opportunities and much-needed capital.

At Woolis, we decided to work with Cuatro Caminos because we aligned with the organization’s drive to enhance coffee’s sustainability directly.

History of Cuatro Caminos

Cuatro Caminos, established in 2014 as the coffee division of AgroNosotros, currently employs 49 coffee farmers and local admin and operations personnel. Using a unique business model to generate micro funding from many investors, the Boquete-based organization runs its operations and develops farms from a long-term perspective. For instance, one of its initiatives includes redeveloping abandoned or underperforming farms – giving them a new lease on life as specialty coffee farms.

Andrés Lopez is in charge of all things agriculture at Cuatro Caminos. Known as a “walking coffee encyclopedia,” he is a 30-year veteran in the coffee industry, his diverse experiences ranging from developing farms from the nursery to the coffee bean, post-harvest processing, green coffee exportation, roasting to quality control. Having been involved with the organization since its foundation, Andrés recounts its early days:

“I was really excited when I heard about this project, which combines investment and development with my coffee expertise. One of the challenges facing the coffee industry is that everything is expensive, including machines and equipment for production and processing. I was convinced that with access to capital, we’d be able to lower the barrier and improve the quality of coffee.”

A mission for Cuatro Caminos is to make Boquete’s coffee industry sustainable. To that end, the organization not only keeps the business economically viable but also takes its environmental and social responsibility seriously.

“For example, we assess the environmental impact from the stage of designing processing mills. That’s because we want to address coffee’s chronic issue, which is environmental pollution caused by post-harvest work. To do that, we use equipment and machines that minimize, if not eliminate, environmental contamination.”

Preserving a percentage of profits for their socially sustainable projects is another example of Cuatro Caminos’ efforts toward fulfilling its social responsibility. The funds go toward developing basic infrastructure, such as electricity, running water, flushing toilets, and gas stoves in their farmers' housing. These funds also improve working conditions in the farms by providing modern equipment, clothing, and other items to improve the overall life of the coffee farmers.

“It’s important for us to create high-quality products and sell them at a sustainable and reasonable price for both the seller and buyer. That’s because we want to contribute to the development of the community as a whole, not just of each coffee farm.”

Selling directly from origin to the end consumer in Europe, Asia, and the US not only creates the best prices for farmers and roasters but also establishes direct communication that is vital as a community to understand the current market needs and discuss problems now and in the future.