Today we visited two plantations, one for bananas and plantains and one for pineapples. We started out at the banana and plantain plantations. We got to see all the banana trees and even got to chop one down. And on the pineapple farm we got to eat pineapple fresh from the plant and I used to think I didn’t like pineapples, but my mind was for sure changed

When comparing all three of the productions together, including coffee, we can start off with the harvesting. Bananas and pineapples can be harvested year round while the coffee harvest is every 3 years. When you harvest all three, however, there is a pretty basic rule of thumb. You find the ones that are ready to be. With bananas, you have to make sure that it is harvested before it is ripe so by the time it reaches the shelves of where ever it is being exported to, it will be at prime ripeness. For pineapples, they are ripe as soon as they are harvested. And coffee, you have to find the red beans that are ready to be picked. When getting ready to export, coffee has a much more complicated process, as the beans have to go through many steps before they are ready to export. And most times, they aren’t even exported roasted. But pineapples have a much more complicated growing process than coffee. You have to be in charge of the pineapple and make it grow a flower when you want it to. You have to keep them from growing pineapples at their own desire. The farmers have to give them ethylene gas to get the pineapple to grow when they want it to. I feel that all the companies we have visited have very significant reach in terms of exportation. They all seem to rely mainly on exports instead of the domestic market.

On the coffee farms, Doka in particular, practiced sustainability because they had all of their machines for the coffee process powered by water powered. They also take care of their employees by giving them healthcare benefits and they have a lot of immigrant workers, so it gives those people a place to work and make money. On banana plantations, they avoid using chemicals on parasites and diseases. Banana plants are all connected, so if one plant gets a disease, then all of them go down. Now the easiest way to combat this would be by using chemicals, but because the plantations is organic, to refrain from this they plant other types of crops. Pineapple famers control their critters with microorganisms so they can also avoid using chemicals.

In relation to my teams topic, design and launch, the pineapple tour guide (who was hilarious) mentioned that they have some pretty big name competitors in the pineapple market so they started giving tours to show how much detail they put into their pineapples and to set themselves apart from their competitors. They also allow us to try freshly picked pineapple from the farm on the tour which I think is a huge help because boy oh boy, that pineapple was scrumptious.

When choosing a plantation to work on, I think I would choose the coffee because I would enjoy the routine of the process.