This story begins in 1950, when Jacy, the patriarch of the Boechat family, began his work growing coffee in the city of Ocauçu (SP).
In the early 1980s, his son, Ary, and grandson, Paul, acquired a small estate in a district called New Columbia, near Garça (SP). The Arabica coffee plantation of the farm was formed with seedlings of its own nursery, from seeds germinated by Ary.
Throughout the 1990s, the entire family moved to the farm headquarters, where they remained for 10 years. Jacy’s great-granchildren were able to build a strong bond with nature by the cultivations of coffee.
Over the years the children and crops grew. Today, the youngest great-grandson, José Olavo, mantains the cultivation, legitimizes farming and breeds opportunity. The Garça Armazéns is one of the results of their work.
Coffee is the main agricultural production of the municipality of Garça. This is due to the history of the region. In 1916, a caravan of 20 people explored the virgin land in the interior of São Paulo. Following the tributary of the Peixe River, later named Ribeirão da Garça, the first communities were established. The first coffee farm came in 1920. In 1924, Labieno da Costa Machado founded the district of Campos Novos, which would later become the city of Garça.
The coffee plantations are common scenario in the rural Garcense area. Half of the coffee plantations are owned by smallholders. Of the 840 farms in the region, 455 produce the fruit. It adds 12047 hectares of coffee plantations.
Between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many immigrants came to Brazil because of Brazilian migration policies and the crisis in Europe during and after the two great wars. The road to all was very similar: the immigrants entered the port of Santos, went to the Hostel de Imigrantes, in São Paulo, and were then sent to work. Most were directed to coffee farms.
Although it was a priority, immigrants' lives were not just about farming. In the countryside, workers maintained their traditions, also through leisure. It was common to find a farm with school and theater. Although the labor in the coffee is very hard, reducing the free time and physically exhausting, the foreigners and their family did not give up their customs.
This trajectory is known by many descendants of immigrants in Brazil, especially in the State of São Paulo, where the city of Garça is located.
Coffee has always been a part of the life of the garcenses, whether in the production of specialty coffees, or in the day to day of each person.
