Finca Soledad

The story

The Jijón family combines specialty coffee production with stewardship of a 120-hectare cloud-forest property. SEY documents a four-hectare coffee parcel and a social mission centered on employment for single mothers.

Challenges

The farm faced significant initial hurdles due to a lack of agricultural background and infrastructure, resulting in a difficult 12-year period of development. Additionally, the land had previously suffered from heavy deforestation and mining operations, requiring extensive reforestation efforts.

Innovations

Organic and biodynamic management, selective picking, controlled-airflow raised-bed drying, active cloud-forest stewardship, and José Jijón’s Zero series of self-designed processing experiments.