Manos Campesinas’ Quality Standards:

1.SEEDS-
-The seeds must be adapted to the region of the community or other communities with similar climates. They are selected from the best branches of the healthy, vigorous, high-producing trees.
 
-The selected seeds must be de-pulped manually and dried in the shade.
-The seeds which are obtained outside the community have to be certified.


2. NURSERY-GARDEN
-There must be adequate management of the nursery using only organic techniques. These techniques include: preparing and disinfecting the soil, applying organic fertilizer, regulating diseases, and preventing plagues.
3. SOWING
-The seeds must be sown at the beginning of the rainy season. The hole depth and spacing are determined by the type of soil, the variety of plant, and the incline of the slope.

4. MANAGEMENT OF THE FARM
-Maintenance of the fields must include the following: pruning trees, sowing new plants, cleaning the farm, fertilizing plants and soil, prevention of erosion, regulating diseases, and preventing plagues.

5.HARVEST
-Only ripe coffee (red cherries) may be picked, avoiding contamination with green or overripe cherries and other alien elements.
-Fallen cherries that have burst open should not be harvested with the ripe cherries.
  
-Cherries have to be delivered and de-pulped the same day they were picked.
-The coffee has to be stowed and transported in clean bags used specifically for organic products.
6.WET MILLING
-All of the coffee received at the wet mill has to be inspected to ensure that it is ripe and clean.
-The de-pulping machine has to be graduated appropriately.
-The coffee must be fermented for the correct period of time. Fermentation must be uniform.
-The fermented coffee has to be washed thoroughly, using only clean water.
-The coffee must be dried on clean patios in layers no more than 5 cms thick. The drying coffee should be turned over at least once every hour.
-In the case of a mechanical dryer, the coffee must first be dried on the patio for at least one day so it will not enter the drying machine wet.
-The humidity of the dried parchment coffee has to be between 9.5 and 12%, according to the local climate.


7.STOWING AND TRANSPORT
-Stowing of the dry parchment coffee has to be done in clean bags in a ventilated room. The bags have to be separated from the floor, the walls, and the roof.

-The warehouse has to be completely clean and free of contaminating substances (such as gasoline) and other products with strong odors.

8.MONITORING AND CONTROL
-Each farm has to keep careful records according to the initial diagnosis and consequent management plans. Moreover, it has to have exact registers of its costs and production volumes.
-The farm and its registers are to be inspected by the co-op twice a year and by the organic certifier once a year.