We Know Sustainable Agriculture
from the Ground Up

Coffee sustainability is an intricate weave of resources and people. It is care for our farms’ delicate ecological systems, and good wages and living conditions for our farmers and their families.

​

We know that environmentally sound farming and processing methods produce superior quality coffee beans. As owners of farms and mills in Latin America, we also know that supporting quality of life on our farms creates thriving, sustainable communities. The result is simple. The people who work the land and grow our coffee care deeply about the quality of the coffee they produce.

​

Since 1968, Distant Lands Coffee has innovated and practiced sustainable agricultural methods at Hacienda La Minita, our flagship farm in Costa Rica.

​

We are currently the second largest coffee farmer in Costa Rica. We recognize that with our scale of agricultural impact, comes great responsibility to continue to improve on our sustainability practices.​

• We have minimized the use of any herbicides or insecticides down to around 25% of our plantations. Our weed cleaning is manually done by hand and comprises 40% of our yearly labor. This massive undertaking not only protects the environment, but also provides added employment for hundreds of people.

• We soil test the entire farm twice a year and design our formulas accordingly. The fertilizer is applied carefully and in minimal amounts in order to keep the soil in proper harmony.

• We have a more than 200-acre forest reserve of old growth woodlands that we set aside over 20 years ago as a nature refuge.

• Designed into the shade-covered coffee groves are blocks of interlocking natural forest. A bird, mammal, or insect can travel virtually the entire farm without leaving the cover of the natural environment.

• Terraced coffee groves, defensively planted natural vegetation, and an intricate and carefully maintained drainage system guard against erosion.