about El Aguacatal
Father Petronilo Martinez and son, Petronilo Jesus, manage this farm on the Mexican Border. They named their farm after the avocado trees that were planted throughout the plantation. We have been so fortunate to know the Martinez Family for generations, and to have worked with them for many years.
El Aguacatal was founded in 1958 by Petronilo's father Gumercindo Martir Martinez, who left the farm to him. Don Petronilo de Jesus was elected as President of the Agriculture Cooperative to direct the production activities with several people and bring the coffee grown in Hoja Blanca to market. He was president for 5 years, but then bought 6 more hectares of land which kept him very busy-- by 1966 he was producing 300 quintales parchment. In 2004 he began working to export his coffee through Onyx.
The family is big. They are very unified, and incredibly hard workers. Petronilo de Jesus Martinez and his wife
Demetria Castillo Recinos have 8 children, 23 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. Most of the family is working in coffee at different levels, from Petronilo's award winning producer son-in-law Aurelio Villatoro to his son Petronilo, a forestry engineer. Petronilo is in his eighties now. He enjoys walking on the farm to enjoy the sunshine and sounds of the river, watching his favorite soccer teams on TV, and reading his Bible.
