Don Mariano Ospina Rodriguez was one of Colombia's earliest and most profoundly influential coffee pioneers, with an outstanding entrepreneurial spirit and tenacity. He began his quest in 1835, seeking the best lands for growing coffee within the lush mountains of the province of Antioquia. He established his first coffee plantation on the volcanic slopes of Fredonia, where he pursued coffee growing with a scientific approach. As a result of Don Mariano's careful investigations and studies, Colombia began producing some of the best coffees in the world.
A political leader and statesman, Don Mariano was one of the founders of the Conservative Party of Colombia. He became a Senator in 1849 and was elected President of Colombia in 1857. After his presidency, he expanded his coffee enterprise to Guatemala in 1865, and in so doing became one of the first coffee growers in Central America.
With his vast knowledge and experience in the cultivation of coffee, he devoted himself to promoting and teaching the growing of coffee to the farmers and peasants of Colombia. In 1880 he published his first textbook about efficient and effective coffee growing techniques. The nation profited richly from Don Mariano's efforts; his passion and labor facilitated the development of coffee into Colombia's main export crop, forever transforming its' economy.
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