Regenerative Farming
Restoring Coffee Farms Across El Salvador
After gaining international attention for the work done at La Cruz; transforming an overgrown mess where the fruit rotted on the trees and stray dogs lived in a state of miserable starvation, into a happy place of busy development, Harry and his team expanded to manage other farms in a similar state of poor condition. In the space of 18 months, La Cruz went from one man in a tent, to an organisation with 45 workers working across 4 coffee farms.
The Farms
La Cruz is the hub, where we make daily food for all the staff, produce organic fertilizers and grow trees and coffee plants from seeds in our sprawling nursery. It is also home to Harry and local celebrity Elias, who was living on the land when Harry arrived in 2024. They live together in a semi-detached building at the top of the farm. With them live Brian Lara (the cat not the cricketer), Nixon (the dog not the president), and Bruna (OG farm canine matriarch).
La Cruz has had to outsource a lot of its coffee processing and roasting in its first few years, due to poor infrastructure on the farm. This is slowly changing as we introduce more equipment to the operations. Starting with African drying beds to produce natural coffee, that we built on the farm with locally sourced materials. We then built an office/bodega with help from British engineer Steve Butters, where we can now work and store tools.
Going forward, we aim to develop the facilities further to become less reliant on other mills, which are sometimes so distant that we barely have the time to get the coffee cherries there in time for processing on the same day of harvest. As we expand to manage more farms, we do so with a defiant attention to our core values of honour, integrity and compassion. We pay staff well and offer food daily, we treat the animals properly while controlling the stray population by sterilising the pets within our projects as humanely as possible, so that no animal suffers and that we don't take on more than we can manage.
Export Grade Green Coffee and Soil Health
At La Cruz, we prioritize long-term soil vitality and sustainable stewardship alongside a skilled local workforce. By implementing regenerative agricultural practices—such as cultivating 100% shade-grown coffee, maintaining natural ground cover, utilizing organic bokashi, and applying eco-minerals sourced domestically—we actively build healthier ecosystems and reduce our carbon footprint.
Worldwide, heavy chemical dependence has depleted soil health and left crops vulnerable to disease. While synthetic inputs offer short-term yield boosts, they often come at a heavy long-term cost, disrupting the delicate balance between roots and soil.
Transitioning a farm toward fully regenerative agriculture is a multi-year journey, and many small-margin farms face significant hurdles along the way. Across all the farms we partner with and manage, our growers are committed to advancing along this spectrum—steadily introducing organic foliars, enriching the soil, and reducing reliance on harsh synthetic chemicals as they progress.
We have designed our business model to support farms through every stage of this transition. To succeed, we rely on partners and consumers who understand how crucial this shift is—not just for El Salvador, but for global agriculture.
Contact La Cruz