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Though Graciano Cruz is deeply commied to the health and success of his family coffee farm in Panama, and the strength of the Panamanian coffee community, he also feels a responsibility to share with and learn from coffee producers working in wildly different parts of the world. Graciano has university degrees in both agronomy and business, and he is eager to share his experience and education with any coffee professional that might be interested, whether it's a co-op in Ethiopia, or baristas at the Barista Guild of Europe Camp. Kenneth R. Olson: To get started, can you tell us a little about your background and family? Graciano Cruz: I was born in Boquete, Chiriquí, Republic of Panama, from a farmer's family. I had a very happy childhood playing and run- ning around in one of the most unpolluted and wild forests of Central America. At the same time, I had to work since I was very young, pick- ing coffee in my grandfather's farm. He was a Spaniard who came to America very young, escaping from the Spanish Civil War. On my mother's side, my great-grandfather, Luis Landero, was one of the first coffee farmers in Boquete with his farm, La Popa, in the Jaramillo area, and his daughter, my mother's aunt, Rosita Landero, was one of the first female coffee exporters in Latin America. I also spent a lot of time before I was 10 years old at her farm and wet mill in Horqueta, Boquete. During that part of my life, coffee was all around for sure. Then my dad was farming vegetables a lot, but also had always a small coffee plantation in El Salto, Boquete, long before Los Lajones Estate. My parents live in Boquete. My father, Graciano Cruz Rubio, is 78 years old and is in charge of the agronomic part and management together with my mom, Eva Landero de Cruz, who is 72 and in charge of accounting for the farms. My father owns half of Los Lajones Estate, and the other half belongs to me and my family, so we buy his cherries and process the coffees. We do 100-percent honeys and naturals at the farm. He manages all the operations until the harvesting time, when I get involved. It's a beautiful part of my life working together with my father. KRO: You've brought a scientific background to a lot of your coffee production work and experimentation. Where did you go to school and university? Did you have any idea that you would make a living working in coffee? GC: I went to San Vicente High School. Many of my specialty-coffee col- leagues from Boquete—Wilford Lamastus, Rachel Peterson, Ricardo Koyner, and others—went to the same school. We've been friends since then, and we're all part of the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama (SCAP) now. I always liked science and sports, and I was lucky to be born in Boquete town; this place is a unique biodiversity spot on earth, with the junction of four tectonic plates and all the animals, plants, microorganisms blended in a perfect natural harmony—a perfect place to grow up for my career. I'm so blessed. I went for college to Escuela Agrícola Panamerica, "El Zamorano" in Honduras where I lived for three years until I finished my degree in agriculture. After that I went to Canada to study at Nova Scotia Agricultural College. Then I went to Japan for training in agricultural cooperative administration. These years of my life were full of amazing cultural learning. For sure, all these studies have been the basis of my professional career, but I never thought at those times that I would become a full-time coffee professional and farmer. Just four years ago, I got my M.B.A. from INCA [an extension of Harvard Business School in Costa Rica], which gave me a lot of tools to analyze the impact of coffee [and its economic reality] on the lives of millions of people. It made my personal mission in my coffee more clear and focused: Working on coffee quality must be based not only on the farmer but the workers. That's the key element. KRO: Was there a specific experience that made you want to work in coffee or one that changed your perception of what coffee could be or taste like? GC: I grew up with coffee around my life. I worked many years devel- oping biological products for agriculture, mostly working in microbiolo- gy with fungi, bacteria, and viruses that could be used to control insects 84 barista magazine