Lee la historia en español aquí.

Juncos.- Within 750 acres of land, in Barrio Caimito, Juncos, a beautiful ecotourism project was built to encourage intercropping and goat milk production, while also offering visitors the opportunity to take educational nature tours.

This is Hacienda Dos Aromas, founded a little over a year ago and owned by Alberto Roque and Jaime Sánchez. This pair of friends has each their own career; Roque is in the construction industry, and Sánchez is a mechanical engineer. But they both dream of creating a farming project that produces cocoa and coffee.

“The idea of Dos Aromas comes because we had first intended to plant cocoa and coffee, which is why we called it Dos Aromas. So, we started looking for farms everywhere till we found this one a year ago, which has a section with the necessary height to plant arabica cocoa and quality coffee. The farm was owned by five heiresses, extraordinary women who saw our work plan, liked it and gave us a chance,” explained Roque.

However, goat milk production was added organically to their cocoa and coffee plans since the owners of the land are the founders of Quesos Lucía. So the pair of friends decided to continue with that product, which, by that time, had about 18 goats producing milk.

“When we got here, Queso de Cabra Lucía was already established and had 18 little goats. At that time they’d sell goat’s milk to very few people (...) now we have 92 goats and have increased production and added several products,” said Roque.

Among the products made on the farm is the goat cheese that comes in three flavors: original, recao and passion fruit. They also have a line of goat milk-based skin care products that include creams, scrubs and soaps, available in three fragrances: original, rose and citrus. The farm is also home to the “Goatlato” project, a micro-enterprise run by chef Kenneth Aguayo, who makes his exquisite goat milk-based gelatos in the farm’s kitchen.

And so the concept was born and soon caught the public’s attention.

“We’re an ecotourism farm that holds different types of activities all in the same place. We added tours that last about one and a half hours, where we show visitors the property and take them to the goat farm to see how the dairy goats are raised. We also explain the process behind our cheese production,” said Roque.

One of the most notable parts of the tour is interacting with the goats, which are separated in their pens according to their gender, age and functions within the farm.

“Everything about genetics is explained to visitors. We start the tour with the padrotes (bucks), where they can see the different types of breeds we have at the goat farm. Then we move on to the teens, which are the young female goats; further on, you can see the ones that are ready to be bred, and finally we end with the milk producing goats. People come from all over Puerto Rico for the tour and it’s been a great success,” said the agricultural entrepreneur.

Visitors also have the opportunity to see the crops and are taught what “intercropping” is, which is when several crops are planted in the same area. They also learn about its benefits and sales projections, and learn a little more about the business this way

Similarly, participants on the tour can “taste our cocoa, sample the skin creams and enjoy a scoop of the goat milk gelato we have on display that day,” said Roque.

Currently, Hacienda Dos Aromas also grows bananas, seven varieties of cassava, two varieties of sweet potato and jackfruit. But its most ambitious plans are focused on expanding their cocoa production.

“We already have our plant nursery where we’re growing our crops. This area hadn’t been cultivated before since it was a cattle ranch, so we worked with that. But our plan is to have 450 acres of cocoa, among other things. We would become the largest cocoa farm within American territory,” said Sánchez.

According to the agricultural businessman, the goal is to produce 250 to 400 tons of cocoa and export a product made in Puerto Rico under the highest standards.

“That opens up the market for us to be able to meet local demand, and export to the United States and internationally. This is the scope of the farm, which will allow us to export a product that is 100% Puerto Rican and is not criollo; [we would export] a high-quality, high-yield product,” Sánchez said.

“Our goal is to be able to reach that market, process that cocoa and in 5 to 6 years we will have 111 agriculture jobs on the farm, not counting the ecotourism. We also want to encourage farmers in the area to grow cocoa, and for us to have a cocoa collection center in the long term. This way we can encourage economic activity in the area and establish a cocoa route like in Ecuador and make people want to study the cocoa fruit,” added Roque.