Today we visited Life Monteverde a coffee plantation with other locally sourced crops and animals on this tour we got a window into what the Tico farmers’ lives are like: constantly conserving and collaborating with their neighbors. The 40 hectares that Life Monteverde is on is co-owned by twenty people so collaboration is pertinent. Life isn’t easy however and they have many challenges including diseases and climate change that causes the dry season to be longer and longer every year. I learned that what brings Tico farmers joy is the success of their plants and tourism enterprises and the quality of the coffee and other exports they produce.

We learned about how the farmers are affected by modern life and community because they pay five dollars per basket rather than two dollars per basket picked which shows how much they care about the workers who pick their products. They also have changed their sustainable efforts so the farm and area will be around for posterity. We also learned about what role engineering and technology play in creating a sustainable farm today when we researched how the natural bio-renewing process is being used to make kombucha on their farm.

I think if I was the child of a Tico farmer, I would want to dedicate my life to a mix between engineering and agriculture so I could run the family farm as an adult while innovating and not being left in the past.