Quality and Sustainability: Coffees from the Cerrado Mineiro region are recognized

Producers from the Cerrado das Águas Consortium combine sustainable practices and excellence, winning awards in the Cerrado Mineiro region.

Producers from the Cerrado das Águas Consortium stand out in awards and demonstrate that sustainability is a guiding principle for achieving quality.

José Augusto Guimarães achieved 2nd place in the 11th Cerrado Mineiro Region Award.

Producers from the PIPC (Conscious Producer Investment Program) of the Cerrado das Águas Consortium recently demonstrated that sustainability is a path to achieving quality, with rankings in major regional and national competitions. With these high rankings, the producers prove that there is a convergence between the two paths and that one supports the other.

Among those ranked is PIPC producer José Augusto Guimarães. He owns property in the Ribeirão Grande basin, in Serra do Salitre, and achieved second place in the Natural category of the 11th Cerrado Mineiro Region Award, held in Uberlândia on November 30th. The award is one of the main quality awards in the country and in 2023 received 500 entries in three categories: Natural, Pulped Natural, and Induced Fermentation.

The Natural category is the most competitive, with 225 samples entered, and José Augusto became runner-up, taking home another trophy, since in October, during the Expocaccer Champions Stage, he won first place in the same category.

Also on November 30th, during the 11th Cerrado Mineiro Region Award, the PIPC producer received the Conscious Producer Recognition. This award, promoted by the Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation, organizer of the award, publicly recognizes the efforts of the producers of the Cerrado das Águas Consortium in investing in Climate-Smart Agriculture practices, with emphasis on regenerative agriculture practices aimed at soil care and water production, making production more resilient to climate change.

Recognition as a Conscious Producer during the 11th Cerrado Mineiro Region Award

“The Cerrado Waters Consortium is the biggest bet of the Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation on the strategic pillar of Sustainability, to guarantee sustainable productive landscapes and water production in our Region, as benefits of the environmental services that the consortium promotes, both for producers and for the population, which today already exceeds 100,000 people directly benefited. Due to the Consortium's relevance to our Region, we decided to recognize the work of the participating producers, who are doing their part in combating climate change and producing water,”

Declares Juliano Tarabal, executive director of the Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation.

This is one of the entities that make up the collaborative platform of the Cerrado Waters Consortium and one of its founders.

Sustainability scoring on quality

Among the Climate Intelligent and Regenerative Agriculture practices adopted, José Augusto invests in inter-row planting with green manure plants; use of biological control; windbreaks and intercropping. Investment in nature that resulted in the production of a coffee with 89.34 points, which was auctioned during the event and had its sack sold for R$19,000 by the companies Expocaccer, Bourbon and FG Corretagens.

Recognition is given to José Augusto for his efforts in planting between rows with green manure plants; using biological control; windbreaks; and intercropping. Like him, other producers who are part of the PIPC (Integrated Program for the Production and Control of Coffee), also from the Ribeirão Grande basin in Serra do Salitre, have reached the podium in quality competitions.

Coffee grower Maria Soraia Guimarães also demonstrated that on her family's property, sustainability is an ally of specialty coffees. By investing in strategies in partnership with the CCA (Coffee and Agriculture Center), such as planting between rows with green manure plants and efficient use of resources, the producer brought to the awards she participated in, flavors from a harvest focused on caring for natural resources to achieve special notes.

This resulted in first place in the sixth edition of the Florada Premiada competition and third place in the Natural category of the Expocacer Champions Stage, as well as being a finalist in the 11th Cerrado Mineiro Region Award. Alongside Soraia, in the pursuit of sustainability as a generator of quality production, is her son, Augusto Ferreira Guimarães, also a PIPC producer. Adopting the same practices, he stood out by achieving 11th place in the Natural Cerrado Category at the Cup of Excellence; first place in the SENAR/FAEMG competition; and was also a finalist in the 11th Cerrado Mineiro Region Award in the Induced Fermentation and Natural categories.

Maria Soaraia Guimarães and her son, Augusto Guimarães, receive an award during the Champions Stage of Expocaccer.

The Ribeirão Grande basin has once again proven to be not only a microregion conducive to quality, but also one where producers invest heavily in sustainability. PIPC producer Éder dos Reis Machado knows this and has combined post-harvest techniques for achieving quality with regenerative coffee farming strategies such as inter-row planting with green manure plants and biological control.

As a result, he achieved third place in the Natural category at the Carpec Champions Stage, qualified for the national phase of the Cup of Excellence, and was a finalist for the 11th Cerrado Mineiro Region Award.

All these achievements in quality awards and the "Conscious Producer" recognition strengthen the work developed by CCA in river basins since 2019 and reaffirm the purpose of the collaborative platform to unite efforts for resilient and intelligent agriculture in the Cerrado Mineiro, working directly with producers, society, companies, and the public sector.

Eder Reis receives award during the Carpec Champions Stage.

“Recognition is a very important action for the producer and for the Consortium. There are several forms of recognition, therefore, reaping the benefits of the actions applied in the CCA strategies is one, through knowledge of nature itself, and the consequence is the environmental results on the properties of the PIPC producers. The public recognition that the Cerrado Coffee Growers Federation carried out is very important, as it values ​​the work of the producer and the Consortium as well, since the producers adopted the strategies and believe that they are positive, generating positive impacts. Thus, the recognition is for the work of everyone, and when the Federation, the entity that leads the Cerrado Mineiro Region, takes an initiative like this, it is another sign that the Consortium is on the right track,”

Assesses Marcelo Urtado, coffee grower and president of the Cerrado das Águas Consortium.