Today we ventured to Sarapiquí, a smaller mountain range to a pineapple farm. This farm took me by surprise and was very by far my favorite. When we first arrived at the plantation, we were greeted with delicious piña coladas 🙂 They were so fresh and refreshing and right what we needed after the 2 hour bus ride. Fun fact: they don’t use ice cubes in their drinks, they use frozen pineapples to keep the drink cold and get a nice creamy texture! Anyway, once finishing our piña coladas, we had the chance to plan our own pineapples. The stem of the pineapple is called a “baby” and this is what we planted into the firm soil to begin a new cycle. Though pineapple plants usually produce only one pineapple, they also produce many “babies” which allows for more opportunities and growth to expand the farm and plant more pineapples.

When looking at the supple chain of pineapple farming and coffee farming in terms of complexity and reach, the pineapple harvesting and planting process is more labor intensive. One hectare can grow up to about 60,000 plants and when taking a baby from one plant and planting another, they are essentially cloning the pineapple. This process seems easier than the coffee process but requires more time in the fields and not as much machine work. For coffee farming, machines are used a lot more often since the coffee cherries have multiple layers that require to be peeled off to get to the bean. Once reaching the bean with machines, they are able to reuse the mucilage and parchment for the fire used in the machines. The pineapple farming process also requires more effort in planting two different types of pineapples, the organic and conventional. Organic pineapple farming requires a larger process, for instance, the plastic used around the plants differs since the plastic controls grass and erosion. In organic, charcoal and ash are mixed together with microorganisms and other sustainable products like chicken feathers or fish meal (skeleton of fish) to make a fertilizer. The practice of sustainability by using products around the farm is interesting because a person wouldn’t usually think to use fish meal as a fertilizer for food, like pineapple. As much as we try to protect the pineapples with plastic covering and healthy fertilizer, there are always threats. This includes soil degradation, pests, fungal infections from excessive rain, and environmental concerns like plastic waste.

The conditions for the Nicaraguan workers in the lowlands of the Caribbean side vs those of the coffee farms in the highlands compares and contrasts in climate and working conditions. Both pineapple farming and coffee farming are very labor intensive, but pineapple farmers have to harvest one at a time and that takes longer than picking multiple cherries off of one tree. It is also hotter in the Caribbean side so Nicaraguan workers have stronger culture and provide more endurance working in the hot plantations. Coffee plantations are also hot but picking is also seasonal and the planting process is usually easier. Therefore if I were a plantation worker, I think I would prefer to work on a coffee plantation rather than a pineapple plantation due to the climate and labor intensity. Although I love pineapples more than coffee, it seems more reasonable to work on a coffee plantation.