“My children, my friends and my trees will speak for me.” This quote is etched in the tombstone of Finca Padilla — the founder of Finca El Triunfo farm, one of Guatemala’s oldest coffee farms — and it greets visitors who enter the surrounding botanical garden. Padilla’s vision and passion for nature is still evident on the farm today and is one of the driving forces behind the farm’s innovation. El Triunfo is nestled in the hills of Santa Rosa, Guatemala. Triunfo is Spanish for triumph, and you will quickly learn how this farm lives up to the name. The family-owned farm has been growing coffee for more than 100 years. It sits on more than 700 hectares of rain forest and overlooks nearby volcanoes. There are advantages to growing coffee for so long, like mastering the best production techniques and experimenting with new ones. Padilla devoted his life to making the farm a tropical garden, collecting and planting various tree species from all parts of Guatemala. This tradition of collecting and planting diverse tree species has continued and inspired coffee variety experiments on the farm. Developing Resistant Coffee Shrubs As with many plants, coffee shrubs are susceptible to pests … Continue reading Visiting the Coffee Farm: Santa Rosa, Guatemala