About Cooperativa La Asunción

The union of the farms and parcels of land that make up Cooperativa La Asuncion started in 1969 as a result of Don Tomas Morales’ vision. After years as an employee of coffee farms, Don Tomas saw an opportunity to purchase land and to bring the cultivation of coffee to his indigenous Kaqchikel community, San Jose Poaquil in Chimaltenango, Guatemala.

He became a landowner and started growing coffee as a source of stable income for his family. With hard work and sacrifice, Don Tomas and his wife Doña Octaviana have maintained the plots of land for over 50 years. Meanwhile in the Chimaltenango region, the coffee community has continued to grow.

For 30 years, the growers in this region were selling their coffee to intermediaries that did not offer fair prices. As a result, Don Tomas’ family decided to unite the coffee families in the region and created a cooperative. Telma Morales Tubac, daughter of Don Tomas, grew up surrounded by coffee and is now the president of Cooperative La Asuncion R.L. Despite obstacles including hail and droughts caused by climate change, Telma is always prepared and ready to lead infrastructure projects and quality improvement.

This year, the cooperative consists of 25 members with a total of 80 manzanas planted with coffee and has started exporting coffee to the United States. Cooperative La Asuncion has also begun selling ground coffee in Central America. This increase in demand has allowed for the building of a new wet mill for the cooperative. With the help of familial agronomists Gerson and Edwin Morales, farms in the cooperative have also started with plans to implement fertilization practices including the use of organic material.

Cooperativa La Asuncion’s objective is to better the prices and overall income of coffee producing families in their cooperative, to create social programs that positively contribute to the economic growth and education of their community, and to expand the awareness of their region’s quality coffee on a global scale.