A Personal Connection to an Extraordinary Place And How Your Morning Cup of Coffee Can Help Protect It
In the fall of 2022, Beth and I welcomed Nina, an exchange student from Ecuador, into our home for her senior year at Mount Mansfield Union. Nina arrived with passions that resonated deeply with our own—the politics of food, environmental stewardship, and art in nearly every form (especially dance). Over that year, she became family, and through her, we discovered a place and a cause that we couldn't ignore.
Nina's father, Peter, owns and operates Finca La Fé, a diverse permaculture farm focused on coffee, nestled in the Intag watershed of Ecuador's Imbabura Province. The coffee he grows—which we now proudly carry in our farm store—is some of the best you'll ever taste. It's a perfect expression of the complex terroir of one of Earth's most diverse ecosystems.
I recently had the opportunity to visit Ecuador and see Finca La Fé firsthand. The spectacular landscape took my breath away—cloud forests clinging to steep mountain slopes, rushing rivers running through the valleys below. And the farm itself is a testament to what thoughtful permaculture can achieve. Coffee grows in the understory alongside lemons, avocados, platanos, pineapples, and agave, each element supporting the others in a productive, biodiverse system that works with the land rather than against it.
When you understand what the Intag region is, and what threatens it, that morning cup of coffee becomes something more than routine. It becomes an act of solidarity.
A Biodiversity Hotspot Under Threat
The Intag watershed sits within the Tropical Andes, recognized as the single most biologically diverse region on the planet. These cloud forests exist in perpetual embrace with the mist, creating conditions found almost nowhere else—a world where orchids outnumber people, where spectacled bears still roam, and where new species are discovered regularly.
Within this single watershed, you'll find:
- Over 25 endemic species found nowhere else on Earth
- Critical habitat for endangered wildlife
- Hundreds of orchid species
- Pristine headwaters that feed communities for hundreds of miles downstream
- The cloud forests act as natural water towers, capturing moisture from the air itself.
But beneath these forests lie significant copper and mineral deposits that powerful interests covet. For decades, both legal mining concessions and illegal operations have threatened to destroy what took millions of years to create. Mining would mean:
- Massive deforestation
- Toxic tailings ponds
- Enormous water consumption and water quality degradation
- Displacement of communities from ancestral lands
APT Norte: Grassroots-Led Conservation
Among the communities fighting to protect the Intag, APT Norte (Asociación de Productores de la Zona Norte) has emerged as a powerful voice. This Grassroots-led cooperative of farmers and community members understands something essential: the health of their communities and the health of their ecosystems are inseparable.
APT Norte conducts systematic water quality monitoring throughout the watershed, creating scientific documentation that serves as essential evidence in legal battles against mining interests. They support sustainable agriculture—coffee, organic farming, agroforestry, aquaculture—proving that conservation and economic development can be the same force. And when mining companies come knocking, they help communities organize, understand their rights, and resist.
The people of Intag aren't asking outsiders to save them. They're asking for solidarity, for fair economic opportunities, and for the right to make decisions about their own lands and futures.
Why Americans Should Care
Climate change, food systems, mineral extraction—the connections between Intag and American lives are more direct than you might think: These cloud forests are massive carbon sinks; destroy them, and that carbon accelerates the climate disasters affecting every American community. The Amazon basin, fed partly by watersheds like Intag, generates rainfall that sustains agriculture supplying American supermarkets.
Much of what copper mining companies extract would end up in our electronics and vehicles. As American consumers, we bear some responsibility for the demand that drives extraction. We also have the power to demand better, more thoughtful strategies for sourcing what we use.
Coffee That Makes a Difference
The coffee from Finca La Fé grows on the steep slopes beneath the looming bulk of the Cotocachi Volcano, harvested by farmers connected to APT Norte's network. The unique microclimate—cool mountain air, misty mornings, rich volcanic soils—produces extraordinary flavor: notes of chocolate and citrus with the subtle sweetness of beans grown in harmony with their environment.
One hundred percent of the proceeds from our Finca La Fé coffee sales go directly to supporting APT Norte's work—water quality monitoring, community organizing, legal advocacy against mining, and documentation of ecological and cultural heritage.
Every bag becomes a tool for resistance and resilience. Your morning ritual, contributing to the protection of one of Earth's most precious places.
When Nina lived with us, she helped us see that the struggles for food sovereignty, environmental justice, and community resilience are the same struggle, whether in Vermont or Ecuador. Walking through coffee plants interspersed with fruit trees at her father's farm, seeing the densely forested slopes rise into the mist, I understood why this place is worth protecting—and why supporting farms like Finca La Fé matters far beyond the exceptional coffee they produce.
Visit our farm store to purchase Finca La Fé coffee. Your morning cup can help protect an irreplaceable corner of our planet.
Maple Wind Farm is committed to supporting regenerative agriculture and environmental justice both locally and globally. We believe the choices we make as consumers can create positive change throughout the world.
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