Today, I had the best pineapple I have ever eaten at a pineapple farm in Sarapiqui. There are many differences when looking at the supply chain of coffee and the supply chain of pineapples. To start, the process of growing and harvesting pineapples is way less complicated. There are not as many machines used and there are fewer stages involved in production. Pineapples are planted, grown in rows, and harvested by hand once ripe, while coffee requires a more intricate process that includes growing the beans, harvesting, drying, fermenting, roasting, and packaging. Organic pineapples are picked when they are green so that consumers get the highest quality fruit. When the fruit begins to turn yellow, that is a sign that the fermentation process has begun. Our guide told us that when picking out an organic pineapple in the supermarket, it is best to choose the ones that are green and don’t have a smell.
Organic pineapple farms are unable to yield the amount that conventional farms due to the lack of chemicals and amount of space there is between each plant. Instead of using chemical fertilizers and pesticides, organic farms rely on natural alternatives, such as composted animal waste to enrich the soil. While these methods are more environmentally friendly, they often come at a higher cost and result in lower overall productivity compared to conventional farming practices.
While the labor might not be as precise on the pineapple farms compared to the coffee farms, the climate plays a significant role in the difficulty of the job. Just standing out on the field for ten minutes, I could feel the combination of the intense sun and high humidity, making the conditions very uncomfortable. For the workers who spend hours in this environment, often performing physically demanding tasks like planting, weeding, or harvesting, the heat can be exhausting. For this reason, I would rather work on a coffee farm even though the actual work is a little more difficult just because of the more extreme climate felt on the Caribbean side of the country.