August marked our second annual Partner Exchange at the Daterra farm, MT and Phil from DRWakefield met with partners from Australia, Southern Europe, Japan, USA and of course the hosts Daterra.
Conversation centred around challenges and how the industry is changing, the collaborative talks were a great way to get to know and learn from each other.
Daterra also announced that following years of research they have created a new innovative bag to replace the Grain Pro, called the Penta bag. This bag reflects heat, infrared, ultraviolet light, reduces airflow all of which can have a detrimental effect on coffee. These new bags will be seen on UK shores by November.
We also had a fantastic tour of the Daterra farm
Daterra Top 10 Facts
1. Daterra has 6,600 hectares of land, 2,600 hectares of which are coffee
2. Of the 2,600 hectares there are 60 mini farms.
3. They have the oldest coffee plantation in the Cerrado region
4. There are 14 different varieties of coffee grown
5. Mechanical harvest starts when 55% of cherries are perfectly ripe.
6. They pick 50% of their harvest by hand and the rest by machine
7. 30k cups are tasted during the season
8. They are always experimenting – currently they are trying drying coffee in the dark!
9. An average of 300 casual workers are employed and 600 are hired in peak season
10. Daterra have their own garage on site to fix their own machinery and transport
