Today, leaving our homestays for the night, we traveled to the Dota coffee roasting and packaging plant. Dota functions as the headquarters for a cooperative of over 900 coffee growers in Costa Rica. By allowing for small coffee farms to pool their resources and experience, a cooperative allows for these farmers to experience a larger share in the coffee market than they would without the cooperative. This leads to advantages and disadvantages that have an effect on every small farm involved in the cooperative as opposed to a traditional company.

Some of the disadvantages of being in a cooperative are obvious, while others are less glaring. For example, being in a cooperative lessens the importance of each unique farm. Without individual attention from outside investors, the members of the cooperative are stuck in a loop of being involved in the cooperative. Other disadvantages are that leadership, more or less, dictates what the small farms must do and all the farms are vulnerable to any fluctuations in the coffee market. Some advantages include being able to rely on what the cooperative does as a whole. This sense of autonomy protects the farms from unknown factors such as having to sell their product, how to care for their crops, and other variable things that could harm the small farms.

The community of Santa María de Dota would be drastically different without its cooperative. Imagine, 900 small farms rely on the cooperative to buy their product, transport it, and basically provide for them. Without this cooperative many of these small farms would likely stop being able to produce. By being in such a large group, it allows the cost of producing on the farm much lower. Without the cooperative, the flow of money into Santa María de Dota would be far lower. The small farms would likely collapse and no more coffee could be realistically produced from the area in a cheap fashion. Without the cooperative, families would be forced to move, money would likely stop flowing, and the area could fall into economic ruin.

Café Privilegios, the small area where we tasted coffee outside of the packaging and roasting plant, is important because it draws tourists and gives locals an opportunity for a job. By having this small shop, it attracts people, like us, to take tours, taste their coffee, and buy their products. By spreading the word of Dota and its cooperative, it brings attention to the work they are doing and allows for their work to be appreciated not only in Costa Rica, but worldwide. Café Privilegios is the “face” of Doka and its cooperative, allowing for its members hard work to truly be appreciated.