Samuel Coto purchased Finca El Platanillo in 1977 from Mr. Don Samuel continued to manage it until 1985. Stuardo Coto, Don Samuel’s son, took control, and since then, he began to gear the focus toward quality, productivity with social consciousness, and care for the environment. It is forbidden to hunt any animal in Finca El Platanillo, and the people who live there need permission to cut the trees around their houses. These goals have been the basis of all the constant improvement that the farm undertakes each year. Because these goals were always priority, by the time certification programs such as RFA (Rainforest Alliance), Starbucks’ “Café Practices”, 4C, etc. came into existence; Finca El Platanillo was already in compliance with most of the requirements to obtain these certifications and became RFA certified in 2005. Finca El Platanillo has partnered up with one of its long time customers to engage in the creation of the Nuevo Platanillo School, which is located on land donated to build the school. As this project evolved, the school has been upgraded many times, and the last upgrade was a computer lab which has Internet access and in which the children of the community are taught the basics of computing from an early age. In the year 2011, Finca El Platanillo became the world’s first farm to be certified by RFA as Climate Friendly, which includes many more requirements regarding the care for the ecosystem, and the people who inhabit it.
