For our last day of exploring Costa Rica, we first toured a strawberry farm. We even had the opportunity to pick strawberries ourselves and later enjoy them with chocolate. We took the bus to La Paz Waterfall Gardens where we saw toucans, sloths, butterflies, and monkeys. We went on a walk through the waterfalls, stopping to take in five different falls. The forest was beautiful and breathtaking. At night, almost the whole group attended a fútbol game between Heredia and Alajuela. After such an exciting day, I cannot believe I have to leave Costa Rica tomorrow. I am so grateful for this experience, and I know I will take these memories and lessons I learned with me back home.
Throughout my time here, I have researched and gone on field studies to examine sourcing in Costa Rica’s tropical agricultural supply chains. When plantations source for their farm, they need to supply labor and raw materials such as the plant and soil. I have learned that most plantations source their labor from workers in Nicaragua. At Hacienda Doka, they pay their workers two to five dollars per each basket, with workers being able to pick about seven baskets per day. Another plantation, Café Monteverde, pays their workers at least four dollars per each basket. In order to retain workers, most plantations offer some benefits like free health care, housing, and cheap food. Learning about the hard life of picking fruit has made me realize how much work it is to produce coffee. I did not realize the hard, manual effort that pickers put in while not receiving much money. Furthermore, plantations need to source raw materials for their farm. For coffee, ICAFE, the Institute for Costa Rican Coffee, regulates what strands of Arabica coffee can be used. In Costa Rica, only Arabica coffee is allowed to be exported since it is the highest quality bean. Further research on different types of coffee plants is done by both the ICAFE and individual farmers, such as Café Monteverde. Farmers hope to grow plants that are more resistant to diseases and need less water to produce crops. Another raw material is the fertilizer. Some farms like Café Monteverde and the organic pineapple plantation make their own, organic and natural fertilizer. While another farm, Chiquita, the lead exporter in bananas in Costa Rica, sprays harmful, synthetic chemicals on their plants. These fertilizers harm the soil, workers, and surrounding community. Having learned about different fertilizers used on crops in Costa Rica, it makes me realize how important it is to buy organic. As a consumer, I have the power to choose what I buy and support. By choosing organic, I am helping to lower my harmful effect on the environment and communities surrounding plantations.
After examining sourcing in farming, I move on to examine sourcing for processing mills and exporters. With this step, companies source mainly technology and water. Hacienda Doka has been using a century old mill to process coffee. They source their energy for the mill from hydropower and by burning excess coffee fruit peels and bean husks. Using renewable or natural energy to fuel mills and exporters is important in Costa Rica’s agriculture especially since the country is focusing on offsetting their carbon footprint. Additionally, companies source water for sorting coffee beans from various places. Hacienda Doka sources from natural springs. Café Britt, mainly a company that buys beans and roasts them, encourages farmers to source their water naturally and to reuse the water with a self-filtering system. Since Climate Change has led to fewer rainy days in Costa Rica, it is vital for farmers to reuse and not waste water. Having researched and gathered information on the sourcing of technology and water, I am becoming more and more aware of the effect agriculture has on the environment. It is important to try to support and purchase from farms that are prioritizing sustainable practices.
In the next step of the supply chain, coffee roasters and retail stores, we researched how companies source coffee beans for the roasters and workers for the stores. Some companies like Hacienda Doka and Café Monteverde directly source their coffee beans from their own farms. On the other hand, Café Britt sources their coffee beans from various plantations in Costa Rica. Since there are less and less coffee plantations, Café Britt has recently purchased a portion of Hacienda Doka’s farms and their processing mill. Café Britt is trying to now control more of the supply chain for their product. For retail stores, Café Britt and Hacienda Doka both source their workers mainly from Costa Rica. At Café Britt, they train their workers to be focused on customer service. The Britt culture is to prioritize the experience of the customer. After their workers start in shops, they may move up in management. Britt encourages the growth and promotion of their workers. Learning about companies’ sourcing for this step of the supply chain has taught me how much more money and care is going into people that are farther up on the supply chain and towards those in management. People working in retail stores have much less labor intensive jobs than pickers; therefore, local Costa Ricans are more inclined to work these jobs. I have never thought about the people that picked the food I ate as I only interacted with retail sellers. I now have much more increased respect for pickers, and I believe that more wealth should be distributed towards them.
Finally, I have observed how companies source customers for the last step of the supply chain. Customers are mainly sourced from tourists visiting the company, foreign customers, and some Costa Ricans. Tourism to Costa Rica and the plantations brings in a large amount of money for companies. The tours themselves and the products visitors buy are profitable for the company. At Café Britt, they hire actors to make their tours more engaging and attractive for visitors. They train the guides before they work as well. On every tour, we were given samples and/or dishes of coffee, pineapple, chocolate, and bananas to taste. These elements of the tour bring more visitors and lead them to buy more. Visitors will tell their friends and family how much they enjoyed the tour which will bring even more customers to the company. The next customers company source are foreign customers. By creating easy to navigate websites and offering services like fast shipping, companies can attract more customers. Packaging goods in an attractive way also leads customers to buy more goods in their shops. This foreign market is a large part for agriculture companies as they export a majority of their goods. Finally some Costa Ricans will buy these companies goods, but they do not make up the majority of companies’ customers. Places like Hacienda Doka and Café Britt may be viewed as too expensive by Costa Ricans. Therefore, these companies may offer a lower quality, cheaper coffee that Costa Ricans are more inclined to buy. After studying how companies source their customers, I have realized that the majority of their products are marketed towards international consumers like myself. I had thought that Costa Ricans buy coffee from the plantations I toured, but now I know they tend to buy more affordable coffee from markets.
Studying Costa Rica’s agriculture supply chain has opened my eyes to the complexity behind each product and good I purchase at my local supermarket. It has made me more conscious of the impact I am making when purchasing goods. I will buy more organic, sustainably produced goods when I can. We can all try to use our power as customers to support environmentally conscious companies and not support companies like Chiquita that dump toxic chemicals into the environment. Not only have I learned about supply chains, but I also experienced Costa Rican culture, lifestyle, and food. I loved living with my host family, and I do not want to leave them. I enjoyed our daily breakfast of gallo pinto and fresh fruit. My group had lots of fun getting to know each other and trying different Costa Rican activities like going to the beach and the soccer game. I will miss Costa Rica, but I know if I ever come back, my Mama Tica has already insisted that I visit her first.
