Over the past two weeks, we’ve seen how industry, culture, and the environment have shaped Costa Rica’s coffee and tropical agriculture trade. I am excited to know so much about tropical agriculture that is commonplace in my life. For example for every place we have visited, except for palmito, my family buys the product on a weekly basis. Having an intimate knowledge of these processes, specifically, my topic of delivery and logistics, allows me to understand the difficulty and cost of high-quality products.

Starting on the farm the logistics are difficult to gauge based on how far their processing mills are. Middlemen can often take 10-15% of the total cost of the product. If the processing mill is onsite it can simplify the logistics of getting the raw product there and therefore be more cost-effective and sustainable.

The second part of the process is the processing mills which, if unsustainable, are across the ocean in Europe. To be sustainable the processing mill should be close to the farm so excess shipping isn’t necessary.

I researched how, specifically after covid-19 it has become more and more expensive to ship partially due to how dense coffee beans are compared to electronics making shipping companies less likely to want to ship coffee.

I know from studying engineering this year that there is always a more efficient way of getting something done so for the future what we need to do is consolidate warehouses and optimization of distances to stores.

Este clase fue increible y tengo mucho agradecido.

Gracias Teeter y Stacey

Adios para ahora

-Rex Dube