Sustainability

Gubalangi means “let’s relax and converse” in the Meanit language. In 2017, we started a yearly farmer-to-farmer think tank workshop, titled Gubalangi, providing educational opportunities and information exchange to farmers. Hosted at the farm, these workshops are led by Gesha Village’s management team as well as visiting local and international specialty-coffee experts. The goal is to provide Ethiopian coffee farmers with information on farming best practices, challenges, and solutions, helping them work and grow together as a whole for the growth of the country’s coffee industry.

When we arrived at the land on which we built Gesha Village, about 25 percent of the land had been deforested. We paid special attention to revitalize the terroir with native trees that would function best in this environment. We conducted an environmental study from an agroforestry expert to advise us. We planted these trees at a moderate density of 2,000 trees per hectare, pairing them with more than 30,000 native shade trees to provide the proper balance of biodiversity and create a sustainable ecosystem for the coffee.