Budding coffee producers dreaming of shade-grown Benguet Arabica in the Cordillera range of mountains in the Philippines.
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Welcome to Agnep Heritage Farms.
We are budding coffee producers cultivating shade-grown Benguet Arabica Coffee. We envision planting coffee under the canopy of Benguet pine and Alnos trees. Shade grown coffeeis a way of growing coffee in concert with nature.
It is our goal to encourage a future generation of coffee growers in Benguet using sustainable agricultural processes.
Planting started May 24, 2018 with 1,000 seedlings from Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, Regional Field Office of the Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-RFO CAR)February 2020 : Coffee seedlings, planted on May 2018 on its second year. January 21, 2021 : Coffee planted in 2018 and 2019 are so tall now
We are grateful to the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, Regional Field Office of the Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-RFO CAR) through the Regional High Value Crop Development Program (HVCDP) Coordinator Joan Dimas-Bacbac for the coffee seedlings they provided for us since we started in 2018.
About us
Who We Are
We are a family of budding coffee producers cultivating shade-grown Benguet arabica coffee in the Cordilleras mountain range of the Philippines. Our farm started in January 2018 with a simple question: “What if we could grow coffee using our great-grandmother’s land?”
Intrigued by this possibility, we took a closer look at our ancestral land in Benguet, and discovered that its forest-like environment had just the right amount of shade for growing coffee. In fact, our great great-grandmother Agnep was Bontoc native and a backyard coffee grower who kept typica plants underneath a thick canopy of Benguet Pine, Kalasan and Alnos trees. Several years ago, Purita Hora-Dado, our grandmother and Sean Luke Dado, our uncle planted Typica, Granica, and Red bourbon coffee plants, which ended up yielding cherries despite being left on their own. This was all the encouragement we needed to begin our coffee journey.
Five months later, we finished planting 1,200 red bourbon coffee plants, and we are learning everything we can about coffee farming and processing. Our dream is to offer Philippine specialty coffee to the world, while providing sustainable benefits to local farmers and nurturing the next generation of coffee growers in the Benguet region.
As of today, November 26, 2020, we have planted 4,820 coffee plants and sowed 1,000 seedlings. We plan to plant around 2,000 coffee seedlings this year, but let’s see…the Covid-19 pandemic prevents us from travelling from the city to the farm.
(Written by Lauren and Marielle Dado)
Our Mission
To be among Benguet’s leading producers of specialty coffee that grows sustainable, high-quality Arabica. We aim to be cost-competitive and aligned with global quality standards, while following environment-friendly growing processes. Through our farm, we want to provide sustainable benefits to farmers, processors, traders, exporters and consumers.
Core Values
Environmental responsibility. We value the environment where we grow our coffee. We will only use sustainable agricultural practices that preserve our forest system and maintain the productivity of the land over time.
Commitment to the community. We are committed to giving fair compensation for the work of our coffee farmers. We aim to educate and empower the next generation of coffee farmers in Benguet, so they can grow along with us and develop sustainable livelihoods of their own.
Continuous improvement. We strive to maintain high standards in everything we do, while improving our methods with practice. Through our culture of constant education, research, and growth, we aim to constantly refine our methods as we strive to make our Benguet arabica meet global standards.
Meet our lead farmers
Meet Farmer Edmund Farmer Angeline at our Nursery
The Dado Family November 26, 2020
We are grateful to Joey and Tess Dado, who paved the way to get our coffee seedlings from the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, Regional Field Office of the Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-RFO CAR) through Joan Dimas-Bacbac.
Digitalization for agriculture (D4Ag) is more than digitization for agriculture. It is more than digital solutions for agriculture. Dr. Benjamin Kwasi Addom, digital agriculture strategist at the Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands talked on “the concept of digitalization and smallholder agriculture” at a virtual workshop on digital agriculture for women entrepreneurs. Organized by the …
We are grateful to the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, Regional Field Office of the Cordillera Administrative Region (DA-RFO CAR) through the Regional High Value Crop Development Program (HVCDP) Coordinator Joan Dimas-Bacbac for the coffee seedlings they provided for us since we started in 2018. The first question that hit my mind in …
We started our farm in 2018 not knowing, the family’s history of planting arabica in the early 1900’s. We just planted Typica seedlings sourced from the mountains above our farm. Before my daughters and I planned a coffee farm in January 2018, we were unaware that there were backyard coffee plants tucked away at the …
The coffee variety, ARABICA, is now officially in the Slow Food’s Ark of Taste as the number of trees in Benguet continue to dwindle. Many reasons contribute to its declining population, such as climate change, coupled with the diminishing interest of the younger generation to go into coffee farming. Read more?
Contact
Our farm is located at Benguet, Philippines. “Agnep Coffee Farm” is the registered business name with the Department of Trade and Industry. For any inquiries on collaboration or partnerships, please contact us below:
