Yamaguchi Farm Lote 68 - Brazil

It might surprise to you to learn that Brazil is home to largest population of Japanese outside of Japan. There are currently around 1.5 million people of Japanese extraction living in the country, and in many ways the culture of Japan has seeped into Brazilian culture in diverse and surprising ways. What you also may not know is that Japanese-Brazilians are seamlessly tied to coffee production in the country. Nilton Yamaguchi’s story is inextricably linked to this fascinating history.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, Brazil’s coffee industry was booming. As in so many countries, though, the industry had been shamefully built on the back of African slave labour, and when Brazil abolished slavery in 1888 they were left with a labour problem. They sought far and wide, reaching out first to European immigrants – particularly those from Italy, to sustain the economic juggernaut. This proved insufficient, however.

At the time, Japan was facing its own problems. For more than 200 years (the Edo Period), Japan had been run according to a strict, feudalist system and had engaged in a fully isolationist foreign policy. The Meiji revolution dawned in 1868: Japan was to now be an Empire and the focus was outward rather than inward, bringing demographic crisis and deep social changes.

Meiji changes were aimed at reopening Japan to the world, and as part of this process, the country realised a need for fast-paced modernisation to quickly achieve a high level of industrial and military development in order to compete with the West. This radical social and economic change was mostly financed by charging high land taxes on farmers and by mechanising farming where possible. This, in turn, led to unprecedented rural poverty. Many displaced farmers and labourers began the long march into the cities to try and avoid starvation. However, those moving to the cities found that their new homes were not prepared for this rural exodus. Emigration outwords was devised as a means of avoiding social turmoil and pressure on the government. The new government also saw the advantage of exporting ‘superior’ Japanese culture, which would only further the country’s aims of Empire.

Brazil with its labour needs was a primary beneficiary of these policies (they may have also seen it as a route to export more coffee into Japan!). In 1907, the Brazilian and the Japanese governments signed a treaty permitting Japanese migration to Brazil, and the following year the first ship carrying Japanese immigrants landed at the port of Santos. Hundreds of families and afterwards thousands came to Brazil, pursuing the dream of making money through “Brazilian gold” – that is to say, coffee. Truthfully, many of these new migrants expected to return, newly wealthy, to Japan, but the reality when they arrived in Brazil was different. In the first seven years, more than 14,000 Japanese migrants arrived in Brazil. From 1917 through 1941, more than 164,000 new immigrants arrived, with some 75% of them going to Sao Paulo to work in coffee. Instead of returning home, as originally intended, many stayed.

Nilton’s Story

Nilton Yamaguchi’s parents fit squarely into this history. They came to Brazil to work on coffee farms, and shortly after arriving they found a place on a farm west of São Paulo state. However, the road to farming coffee themselves was a bit longer. They worked for many years on the coffee farm and it was only years later that Nilton’s father, Hideki Yamaguchi, moved to Araucária, a city close to Paraná’s state capital, Curitiba. He moved to take advantage of a pioneering program called PADAP, aimed at encouraging Japanese-Brazilian immigrants to develop agriculture in the Cerrado, which at the time was underdeveloped. PADAP divided a large plot of land into 100 smaller lots, each of which was given a number – the Yamaguchi family was allocated Lot number 68 (Lote 68), and there, together with his wife Tsuyano and his small sons, Hideki started a potato farm. This was the family’s first foray into farming in Brazil.

Hideki became a member of the Cooperative of Cotia, a co-op formed by Japanese and Japanese-Brazilian producers. Through the cooperative, the family heard about a settlement project that was happening in the region of São Gotardo and decided to invest in two plots of land within the settlement area. At first both small farms were earmarked for Nilton’s two older brothers – they were to go live there and farm the land when they came of age.

There was only one hitch. According to Japanese tradition, the eldest son inherits the family’s land and is responsible for taking care of his parents. Nilton’s eldest brother was very committed to his Japanese heritage, so when he came of age, he decided to stay in Paraná to care for his family and fulfil his traditional obligations. Nilton, the baby of the family, went to Minas Gerais after completing an undergraduate degree at Federal University of Paraná and working for a time as an agronomist for the Cooperativa of Cotia. He arrived in São Gotardo in 1981, following his middle brother who had been farming coffee on his portion of the land since 1975. Nilton loved the area and decided to take up farming on the land originally intended for his eldest brother.

During his first years farming the new land, Nilton planted only soybeans and corn. However, the perceived benefits of farming diversification encouraged him to plant coffee, and he hasn’t looked back since.

Farming Practices and Processing

In all his farming activities, particularly with regards to the use of agrochemicals and fertilizers, Nilton follows the recommendations of his co-op’s agronomist. The Agronomist is highly trained and experienced in the particularities of the region and selects products based on trials that take place at the co-ops experimental farm.

Nilton is diligent about crop renovation and carefully watches when his productivity begins to decline. His current focus is increasing the volume of specialty coffee production on the farm. To this end, he’s invested heavily in varieties known for their quality cupping characteristics, such as Yellow Catucaí.

All harvesting on the farm is mechanized and starts with no more than 10% of underripe fruits. Nilton works with two different processes: natural and pulped natural. In both cases, the coffee is dried in patios and afterwards is finished in mechanical driers at a low temperature until it reaches 11.5% humidity.

Several varieties are established on Lote 68: in addition to the Yellow Catucaí mentioned earlier, Nilton has planted Mundo Novo, Red Catuaí, Yellow Catuaí and Guará. Every lot is formed and separated with consideration to variety and coffee plot location. His Guará trees are 2 years-old and 2018 will mark the first harvest of this special coffee, a new variety known for its high productivity, disease resistance and good cup quality.

Throughout the year the farm provides employment for 15 people. During the harvest this grows to a total of 35 workers. All receive at least the minimum regional wage, which is above the national salary.

Nilton is preparing the farm for international certifications, as well. He has invested in farm infra-structure and is implementing the Plan for Environmental Risk Prevention and the Plan for Medical Control for Occupational Health for all his employees.

For Nilton Yamaguchi, producing specialty coffee is an extension of his work philosophy: it’s just a reflex of what he applies in all his efforts every day at the farm. Specialty coffee is a form of adding value to his product, and he believes that the region has a lot of potential for this premium product.

For the first time, having his coffee exported through the family-owned Aequitas Coffee exporters gives him a feeling of fulfilment and recognition for this work. As opposed to traditional coffee trade in which normally the producer has no idea as to where his coffee is going, doesn’t receive any feedback for quality, and where she/he is vulnerable to market prices, Aequitas is 100% committed to transparency. The goal of the company is to connect coffee producers from the region of São Gotardo to the specialty coffee market and to create overall awareness amongst them of the choices they have rather than being reduced to a secondary link in the supply chain. Aequitas feels that producers deserve to be recognized and rewarded by the coffee community for the love and effort they dedicate in producing an outstanding coffee.

Mercanta is proud to support the efforts of Aequitas in bringing new speciality coffees from this region to the market.

More about PADAP

In the beginning of the 1970s, the Government of Minas Gerais, in partnership with the Federal Government, implemented the first settlement project in Brazil, PADAP (Directed Settlement Program of Alto Paranaíba), which consisted of investments concentrated in a single continuous area, with technical assistance and privileged credit lines, with an incentive to intensify the use of modern inputs and agricultural mechanization. Compounding the municipalities of São Gotardo, Rio Paranaíba, Ibia and Campos Altos, the Cotia Agricultural Cooperative - Central Cooperative (CAC-CC) was responsible for selecting the settlers and the necessary subsidies for the development of the project. Until this time, the region had no economic activities and the agriculture was primarily subsistence by the native people.

Under PADAP, an ambitious rural settlement took place in São Gotardo region. The Cooperativa of Cotia, the largest agricultural co-op at that time, formed mainly by Japanese and Japanese descendants was requested to select a group of pioneers to explore the region and for this reason, many farms in the area are owned by Japanese-Brazilian families today. Nowadays, PADAP is considered one of the most successful settlement projects in Brazil. The region has a farming diversity that it’s not common to other agricultural regions in the country. Apart from coffee, São Gotardo region produces carrot and garlic – our main products – also potato, onion, beetroot, corn, soybean, wheat and others.