 As a worker-priest, he quickly integrated the community and started to learn about the misery and economic hardship of local coffee producers.In 1981, he participates in the launch of UCIRI (Union de Comunidades Indigenas de la Region del Istmo), a coffee producer cooperative created to bypass local traders (also called "coyotes") and pool resources.In 1985, van der Hoff met Nico Roozen at the Utrecht train station through a mutual friend.