With our third coffee visit today, we explored Life Monteverde, where we had a very informative lecture and hands-on farming experience. Our guide, Guillermo, explained the general processes of growing and harvesting their coffee. Guillermo was once a farmer himself, sharing a lot of compassion and commonalities with the current workforce of Nicaraguans who work with the crops. He described the Tico farmer’s life as very tough work, resulting in exhaustion and shortcuts when enduring the volatile weather of Monteverde. These shortcuts oftentimes result in shortcomings in coffee yields, as some workers may put too many unripe coffee cherries in their cajuelas to inflate the actual volume of coffee they picked. This problem is especially exacerbated in Monteverde because of the high elevation. The coffee plants here only produce small batches of ripe cherries, meaning that the same plant will have to be returned to many times throughout a season to harvest it completely. To solve this problem, Guillermo said he pays $5 per cajuela, instead of the usual $3 at other plantations. The higher pay incentivizes his workers to take their time and to pick only the healthiest cherries, as $5 per cajuela is enough for his workers to live comfortably, whilst yielding around 1.5 cajuelas per hour.
As Costa Rica and Latin America progress as a modern society, education is becoming increasingly sought after. At the root of Tico culture and joy is the pursuit of knowledge and a happy family. In Life Monteverde, Guillermo shared that they provide housing for all their farmers and schooling for the kids and their families. These amenities make working at Life Monteverde in a modern society a viable career for family men or women, who can now be a part of a community of like-minded households. Furthermore, sharing the sustainable mindset with tourists visiting the plantation is an excellent source of happiness and accomplishment for Guillermo and his other Tico colleagues.
Leading by example, Life Monteverde showcases all practices that allow for a better future on their tours, inspiring foreigners to adopt this obviously possible and sustainable style. Engineering and technology play a large part in making farming in Monteverde sustainable. For example, they engineer microorganisms and bacteria to create a healthier alternative to herbicides and pesticides. Also, they use technology like weed whackers to kill the unwanted plant material, which further reduces pollution and unnecessary agrochemical use. Each practice helps achieve a further level of sustainability and future success.
If I were the child of a Tico farmer, I would want to dedicate my life to becoming an environmental researcher or scientist. With such a beautiful and unique part of the world as my home, I would not be able to resist learning and understanding everything I could about this niche ecosystem and environment. I believe that you could dedicate 10 lives to researching this part of the world and only scratch the surface in the special Monteverde region.
