27.07.2026 • 25 Min.

Welcome to The Coffee Producer Toolkit, a series made in collaboration with Lucia Solis. This series will help you understand coffee farming better than most professionals you'll meet at a trade show. Each episode takes one part of the farming business — agronomy, processing, fermentation, storage, quality, sales — and lays out what the best farms are actually doing. In this first episode, we cover the fundamentals of what makes a coffee farm viable. We look at how farms measure success and why so few know whether they're actually profitable. Please spread the word about Filter Stories! Follow us on Instagram - James (@filterstoriespodcast) and Lucia (@lluciasolis) - and tag us in an Instagram story. Discover how I make these Filter Stories episodes by subscribing to my Substack newsletter Stay up to date with Lucia through her newsletter Write a review on Apple Podcasts Leave a 5 star rating on Spotify Support James’ work directly by buying him a coffee at Ko-fi.com/FilterStories Related podcast episodes: Lucia: #79: Farm First: Lalo Perez on Long-Term Coffee Health James: The Science of Coffee: The Magic of Soils The Science of Coffee: Plant Genetics People mentioned in the episode: Fernando Castillo Guatemala Paulino Quintero, Colombia Orlando Osoria, Colombia Julia Ortega, Mexico Sergio de la Vequia, Mexico Hugo Lopez, Innovakit Manuel Mata, Colombia Sam Knowlton, Soil Symbiotics Lalo Perez, Biofilia Resources: Anacafe technical management Coffee Cascara Compost Guidelines (English) Compostaje de la pulpa/cáscara de café (Espanol) Netafim Drip Irrigation manual Innovakit: abonador (fertiliser applicator) Innovakit: aroplateo (tree guard for weed whacking) Innovakit: selector de arvenses (low-drift sprayer) Innovakit: canguaro (sleeves) World Coffee Research variety catalogue Recommended varieties: Centroamericano, H1, H16, Mundo Maya Coffee&Climate Toolbox Access Agriculture World Coffee Research Resources Barista Hustle’s Coffee Farm Management series The Coffee Producer Toolkit is made possible by these leading coffee organisations: The Coffee Quest | BWT | Descamex | InterAmerican | Pinhalense | Novonesis | GrainPro Check out Standart, the award-winning coffee magazine. Get a free magazine and a free bag of coffee by clicking here. Use ProfilePrint to find the coffee your customers loved last year (without a week of cupping!). Use promo code "FILTER" to get 10% off your first year of a Mini Beluga subscription. Click here to discover ProfilePrint's many uses. Support hundreds of thousands of coffee farmers with Fairtrade. Discover how here. Office coffee = easy recurring revenue. WMF’s Elevation 10 and Peak 50 do the work for you. Learn more here. What kind of racing car does the Gaggia Classic GT home espresso machine remind you of? Use discount code FS202610 to get 10% off.