This year, the Rogers Family Company got their coffee suppliers together in Chiapas. An annual meeting is held by the Rogers Family to bring together the coffee estates that they support. Selva Negra has been a partner with the Rogers Family for over 13 years, this relationship has been very important for us, and their support a huge help in our sustainable efforts. The Rogers Family has assisted us with the construction of new schoolrooms, new kitchens, improved meal time, provided better toy choices for the children at Christmas, and supported our baseball team.

The Rogers Family assists all their farmers in similar projects. During these times together we get to refocus to the Rogers Family key tenets, and learn from the sustainable projects being performed by the other farmers.

Mausi and Don Goyo traveled to Chipas via Guatemala where they met with Ing. Jose Pacheco, and enjoyed the 6 hour drive to Chiapas with his company. Once in Chiapas, they were joined with approximately 90 others, including three generations of the Rogers Family. Farms like Finca Argovia, Finco Hamburgo, and Finca Irlanda served as lodging and educational grounds for the group. Don Goyo visited with many of the workers at Finca Irlanda and learned of their harvesting and pruning methods.

Guest speakers were also invited to share sustainable farming information such as Zeolitas, an additive to increase the effectiveness of fertilizers, Gabriela Soto spoke of the benefits of organic fertilizers including worm farms like that at Selva Negra, Humberto Jimenez spoke of diluted fertilizers to increase its effectiveness, and Richard Werry from Fresh and Easy also spoke providing a retailer's perspective.

Good times and good learning was all around. The Rogers Family offers the coffee producers a stable environment where to operate. Long-term relationships help us all weather the ups and downs of coffee pricing. The Rogers Family is one of the few remaining family-owned, gourmet coffee roasters and it's this family aspect that creates the meaningful relationships with coffee growers like us.

After the get together in Chiapas, Mausi and Don Goyo returned to Guatamala, where they again met with Ing. Pacheco. Together they visited Anacafe, the Guatemalan Coffee Association, and with Ing, Jimenez the toured the laboratory. The laboratory left research envy and led to the purchase of multiple books from their library. Now we're armed with many ideas of things to try. Other outings with Ing. Pacheco included cacao farms and a bio-diesel installation.

Among the many things that this trip brought back was ideas on improved fertilizer utilization, cacao production, laboratory expansions, and bio-diesel production possibilities. Travel and research are so wonderful partners.