Today we visited Cafe Monteverde. To start the day we did a service project with a local school, and painted the gate outside of the school. We added a mural with letters, numbers, flowers, trees and the handprints of the children. The teachers emphasized that this would be an experience for them to remember.
After Lunch, we toured Cafe Monteverde’s LIFE (Low Impact For Earth) agricultural farm. Cafe Monteverde expressed the importance of working within the community to make an impact and spread economic prosperity. They do this through volunteering, in addition to their Monteverde Community Fund, where they donate one dollar per tour attendee to a relief fund for the community in times of need. They also pay their laborers competitively, almost double the minimum wage with greater benefits because they feel there should be a fair distribution of profits. This demonstrates the principle that there isn’t only environmental sustainability that is important, but economic and social sustainability, as well, as discussed in the lecture yesterday.
After visiting Life Monteverde, it seems as though Tico farmers rely heavily on their communities. While on the tour we learned that the farm teaches other farmers about their methods for organic fertilization. We were able to see how passionate the people there were about their work and working to improve the future. In the past 30 years there have been drastic changes to the environment due to climate change, presenting several challenges. Rain patterns have changed, which impacts the development of coffee cherries and the growth of fungus, which threatens coffee plants. Farmers have been experimenting with different types of plants to find which thrive best in these conditions and to see what types of fertilizers can offer the best nutrients to the plants. They shared that the best information for how to deal with these changes comes from the knowledge of the older generations. This could present a problem in the future. With current generations there is a shift away from a desire to farm and towards higher educations. This will not necessarily be a negative thing. Farming needs engineering to create sustainable solutions. For example, we learned about how wood from old coffee trees is turned into charcoal mechanically. Charcoal stores water and necessary microorganisms for coffee. Currently, 50% of the mass of wood can be turned into charcoal, but this process has the potential to be improved for higher output. I believe that if I was growing up in a Tico family I would want to be a veterinarian. Everywhere we go we see wild dogs and today at the school we saw how two out of the three dogs had been injured. I want to help them, and would maybe be interested in research to make care more affordable.
We are currently on the bus back to Heredia for the chocolate tour tomorrow! I’m so sad we are already half way through the trip, but can’t wait for the next week.
