George Henry, Gleaner Writer

John Minott Jr, owner of the Baron Hall coffee estate, inspects coffee berries on a tree at his farm in Cave Valley, St. Ann.

Spaldings, Clarendon:

John O. Minott Jr is in his 30's. He told Farmers Weekly that he has been working in coffee from age four, jokingly reasoning that he may have been brainwashed into getting into coffee production.

Young Minott said he grew up not knowing anything else, as his father, Mr. Minott Sr., usually took him to the farm every holiday, ensuring that he was exposed to all aspects of coffee production.

"He had me in the factory, had me on trucks as sideman, had me in the office and so I was grown up in the business and what the business is was always in the back of my mind," the young Minott said.

He is a graduate of the Florida International University where he studied business management and marketing. But, even that did not lure him away from the farm.

Good appreciation

"I do not think that there is anything else which I would enjoy more than what I do currently. Even though it is rough and stressful at times, I have come to really have a good appreciation," the coffee farmer said. "What is nice, is at the end of the day, somebody can look at me and say, 'your product is nice'. you know what you have put in from the beginning," he reasoned.

Like other farmers, he has encountered many challenges. The destruction caused by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 still continues to affect the farmer's production two years later. He lost over 70 acres of coffee. He is, however, praying that the crop will not be affected this year. Last year he harvested over 11,000 boxes of the berries. He is anticipating a harvest of between 23,000 and 24,000 from this year's crop.

Apart from his 200-plus acre farm of High Mountain Coffee at Baron Hall Estate in St. Ann, Mr. Minott noted that he also has 65 acres of Blue Mountain Coffee at Spring Hill in Portland called Blue Baron Estate. He has plans to expand that farm to about 150 acres over the next two years.

In addition, he hinted at plans to offer farm tours of his coffee plantations. This, he said, would educate tourists on what goes on in the production of Jamaica's high-quality coffee. He currently employs over 400 persons, about 120 of those being permanent employees.