Today we visited Life Monteverde, a coffee farm run by twelve families with an emphasis on the sustainability of their practices. Through Life Monteverde, we completed a service project with a local school, painting their fence and incorporating a new design with the help of the students. After that, we toured the farm, where we learned about the soil conditions needed for coffee plants and organic fertilizer made on the farm.

The life of a Tico farmer is a difficult one. When only a handful of people are working on a large area of land, each farmer must do lots of work. In the case of coffee especially, much of this work is manual, without the use of large machinery. This all means Tico farmers work long hours to make money that may not be all that satisfying.

There are many challenges associated with farming in Costa Rica, the most pressing of which being keeping crops healthy. Because tropical agriculture contributes to a good portion of the Costa Rican economy, keeping coffee and other plants like pineapples and bananas is very important. Unfortunately, in the case of coffee specifically, a fungus called coffee rust causes significant loss in crop yield. When farmers are already struggling to make a profit, the last thing they want to have is something like coffee rust. Farmers must then either take the crop loss or pay extra money to cure the infected plants, both of which hurting the farmers’ ability to make money. Even assuming all conditions are perfect for growing coffee or other plants, Tico farmers still struggle to find help to keep the farm running efficiently. Costa Rica’s emphasis on education has improved the overall knowledge base of the country, but at the same time has taken manual laborers away from necessary areas like farms. Educated Ticos prefer not to work on farms, finding work in more specialized areas, so farmers must hire Nicaraguans or Panamanians for the manual labor. Although these workers are paid very little, there are hidden costs for the hiring farmers as they often must provide housing, food, and perhaps healthcare to attract these migrant workers. From a logistical perspective, selling the farm products can be difficult for farmers. Some live in very remote areas, meaning they must travel long distances or pay for long shipping routes to bring their product to a port or processing facility. The logistics part of being a farmer takes lots of money and planning, further adding to the challenge of making money. Throughout my time here, I can see that farmers have lots more to consider than just managing the land. They must consider the sourcing of labor and the way in which to sell their product, making their job very difficult from multiple viewpoints.

Tico farmers, however, are always looking to  improve their practices, making their farms more economically and environmentally sustainable through technology and engineering. On our tour today, we observed the process in which Life Monteverde synthesizes their own fertilizer. Through several steps of fermentation with microorganisms, they are able to create a fertilizer of completely organic material, meaning they can reuse crop waste such as old coffee tree trunks. With time, this fertilizer will cost less than commercial inorganic fertilizers and will help the farm reuse its waste product, contributing to both economic and environmental sustainability.

Aside from the practical aspects of farming, I imagine Tico farmers feel a little isolated from the rest of the world. On such a large area of land, farmers are not surrounded by much of a community. Aside from family and workers, farmers most likely don’t get the chance to socialize much, possibly leading to loneliness. This is why being part of a community is so important. It gives us a chance to socialize and decompress. It is so easy to get caught up with work and everyday life, we need a chance to decompress and be with others. It allows us to relax, regenerate, find new interests, and ultimately find a purpose. This sense of purpose helps us become our best selves and do what we love during our lives. Unfortunately for farmers, they may not feel this connection to others, and may feel less happy as a result.

If I were the son of a Tico farmer, I would probably dedicate my life to making the farm more sustainable. I think being exposed to farming and my current interest in engineering would combine into something like we saw on the tour today: making organic fertilizers from farm waste. I would work to make the farm more efficient, and I would like to take a hands-on approach towards doing so, making organic fertilizers and experimenting with soil conditions and types. Just on the tour today, that engineering side of farming really sparked my interest.