ROBERTO ORTIZ

Roberto Ortiz is Volcafe’s assistant general manager for their operations in Peru, and he works with them on their sustainable sourcing strategy; The Volcafe Way.

Our Roberto Ortiz coffee is a multi-farm product, combining coffee from different farms across Peru that are all part of The Volcafe Way. The Volcafe Way teaches producers the basics of running a business and farming coffee, aiding them in productivity and profitability. In Roberto Ortiz’s words; “there are a lot of risks and challenges, and it really pushes us to our limits. It helps us know what we’re really made of. And it’s helping other people to be better. It’s what we love.”

In 2013, Peru suffered a huge product loss due to Coffee Leaf Rust (CLR), devastating thousands of farms. Since then it has been difficult to recoup the losses, which is why projects like The Volcafe Way are so important to be able to not only help the farms financially recover but know what to do next time to avoid or stem an outbreak like that from happening again.

One of the ways in which The Volcafe Way benefits farmers is by facilitating transport between sellers in remote areas and buyers. For example, Chontali is a small district 3.5 hours from Jaen, where the coffee is bought. It’s a long and difficult journey, but this has been aided by The Volcafe Way. They also work on creating solutions to problems, for example, combatting the problem of altitude affecting drying conditions by teaching the producers how to build simple structures to dry coffee.