1802 Roasters HONDURAS San Vicente

Nancy Hernández Contreras is a small farmer from the community of Trapiche, Chinacla department. From the age of 8, Nancy helped her father pick coffee cherries in her spare time. She had no idea of the hard work or discipline required to be a full time coffee farmer, nor the intricacy and length of the supply chain. Her father had been a coffee producer since the 1970s, but the regional customs were very male-oriented and women typically had no right to inherit land or be involved in coffee production. But more recently, little by little, things have started to change. Not only have women become an accepted part of the industry, their unique contribution has been recognised and valued. When she was 15, Nancy got her first part time job working at a coffee co-op. Starting out as a cleaner, she studied hard and worked her way up, surrounding herself with people who work along the value chain and soaking up as much knowledge as possible. It was during this period that she realised that coffee was her calling and her future.

In 2002, Nancy bought her farmland from an uncle and together with her sister and mother they started planting coffee, armed with an abundance of knowledge which was able to jumpstart access to the specialty market with the best farming, harvest and processing practices. Unlike many of her peers, Nancy immediately looked for differentiated markets, selling 10 bags to a Canadian buyer off her own back.