Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/491374
STiR tea & coffee industry international 33 DeltaTechnology.com 1602 Townhurst | Houston, Texas 77043 USA +1.713.464.7407 | Fax: +1.713.461.6753 • New electronic background with 16,000,000 colors. • New shape and size sorting. • New remote monitoring and control. • Latest CCD technology and advanced LeD illumination system for higher precision and yield. • Monochromatic and full color RGB models sort any coffee, robusta and arabica. • Tropicalized, rugged and reliable for any environment. • worldwide experience and world class service since 1978. Delta Color Sorters profit in every bean! put even more "Coffee is the expression of our people," explains José Fernando Montoya a mem- ber of the FNC's directive committee. Once the Antioquia's potential became apparent the FNC, Antioquia's Coffee Pro- ducers Departmental Committee (Comité Departamental de Cafeteros de Antioquia), and the federal government's Office of Productivity and Competitiveness (Secretaría de Productividadad y Competitividad) established the "Antioquia: Specialty Coffee Or- igins" program. Armed with $COP21 billion Colombian pesos (approximately $US8 million), the project offers professional education and training for the coffee growers and their families. The intent is to increase their income, produce quality coffee and in doing so bring better living conditions to the area. The government adopted the slogan "Antioquia the most educated" (Antioquia la más-educada) and formally recognized coffee production as a great tool in helping the department to reach its main goal: change society through education. Immediate targets include improvements to the school system, a better understanding of agricul- tural science, increased entrepreneurship and a reverberant culture. The government is taking advantage of the people's interest in coffee to accomplish these goals. The new coffee generation The program recognizes the long-term commitment essential to success depends as much on training the young as those who are growing coffee today. Tomorrow's great coffee depends on today's planning. Colombians already understood that coffee grower's children are the key. Stimulating the youth and making the countryside an inter- esting theater of commerce will guarantee the future of the coffee market and slow the rural exodus of young people. But how do they reach these youngsters? Education! Using a focus on coffee sales in math- ematics lessons, business man- agement, agricultural techniques, roasting and cupping classes; education prepares the young- sters and attracts interest from local people. In addition to reach- ing adults, they are also thinking about the next generation of cof- fee growers and introducing them to a new business perspective. Yenny Velasquez Alzate, one of the leaders of the Specialty Coffee Program in Antioquia, helped organize and teaches at the coffee camps.