Aristobulo Rayo Mendez is the owner of finca La Victoria, which is a 47ha farm located in Ortega, Tolima. He has been growing coffee for 50 years; it is part of his family history to be a coffee grower. The farm has only 8ha of coffee and includes 10ha area of natural forest which Aristobulo protects. The varietals on the farm are castillo, caturra and geisha with a total of about 38 000 trees.
Aristobulo Rayo Mendez has been a member of Café Agrario for 6 years, which is an association of producers from Ortega in Tolima. Most of the 35 associates are coffee growers. Cafe Agario has seen some difficulties as it is situated in a region troubled by the civil war but also suffered from poor leadership when coffees were sold on credit to coffee buyers who never paid for coffee delivered.
In more recent years, they have been focusing on specialty coffee to add value to their product and also roast and sell their coffee locally.
