Today we visited two small organic and sustainable farms, what stood out most was the variety of crops. These small farms didn’t specialize in one plant, but instead focused on a couple. They grow bananas, cocoa, pepper corn, mango, turmeric and vanilla. Each plant has its own unique process of growing and harvesting method to maximize yield. For example the pepper corn is a vine and grows around a tree, this tree also provides nitrogen to the soil for the pepper corn. This is a sustainable practice that doesn’t require any synthetic nitrogen. I noticed their banana production was far more sustainable compared to the larger plantation as well. They grow many different varieties which don’t require any pesticides like the bananas at Dole or any large farms. They also don’t wrap the banana bunches in plastic which the large farm does for ripening and supplying insecticides. They don’t use these practices because they don’t want to kill any of the bees or other insects they have on their farm. These bees are used to pollinate the many other plants they have around.

Since they use these sustainable and organic practices their margins are quite low and they have to look for other sources of income. Both of these farms also rely on agrotourism. A lot of barriers can exist for farmers wanting to start tourism attractions. The first is that the industry is dominated by the large plantations which have the ability to market to a larger audience. They are recognizable names such as Starbucks and Dole which attract many tourists. These small farms also have to make sure they have the room for tourists, this includes bathrooms, meeting spaces and possibly a kitchen if they were to serve food. If they don’t have them they will need the resources to expand their operation. Although banks make it hard for many of these small farms to get loans which means they rely on their own money or money from friends and family. Their local community does give them an opportunity to sell their produce to them or at markets. This allows them to collect money as they try to expand. It also helps lower costs because they don’t have to transport their goods far.

Even with these barriers both of these farmers have done a great job at expanding their operation. We learned at the one farm that they had a group of Nicaraguans come early in the day to learn about each crop. and at the other farm they are starting to plant pineapple which will add more variety to their crops.