BR Fazenda Sao Paulo [Montanari]

Montanari Family

The Montanari family’s passion for coffee was a natural outcome of its Italian heritage. Today Marcelo Montanari, the 36 year old great grandson of Italian immigrants preserves the Montanari coffee tradition, pushing the boundaries of both quality and sustainability in the Cerrado region of Minas Gerais.

In 2012 Marcelo decided to embark on a mission to drastically improve the quality of his coffee while maintaining productivity and sustainability on the family’s 210 hectares of land, which until 2012 had produced mostly commercial coffee”.

The family farms have won several sustainability awards to date including the Sebrae Sustainable Practices Award in 2011 and 2014, as well as a National Award for Sustainable Practices in Small Businesses, which encourages innovative management practices. Today 60% of the Montanari’s coffee is of specialty grade, totalling about 210 hectares. The Montanaris pride themselves on their innovative farming, utilising about 10% of their productive area to test new products as well as new farming and producing techniques. They are very aware that choosing the right varietals for their land is essential as is tailoring the method of processing the coffee to the clients' needs. The aim is to produce a high quality build the business to prosper in a sustainable, balanced way.

The Montanari’s are heavily involved in their local community, supporting social projects such as drug rehabilitation as well as teaching local school children to read. As Marcelo says “I am the fourth generation of coffee farmers in my family and a lot has changed since the days of my Great Grandfather. Before you worked only to produce. Today the focus must be on the client and I decided to bet on quality and sustainability”