Throughout the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to explore the sourcing step of the supply chain as it relates to the operations of coffee plantations. The sourcing step of the supply chain concerns how an entity sources its raw materials, labor, contracted, services, and research, as well as how the entity is…
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It’s (Not) Always Good to Cooperate
Today, we visited the Dota coffee plantation, which serves as a part of a cooperative of over 900 other farmers/coffee plantations in the area. In other words, as opposed to being one centrally owned and operated entity like a plantation like Doka is, Dota is a part of a cooperative of other entities that all…
Pineapple Tour
Today, we had the opportunity to visit both a banana plantation and a pineapple plantation. After experiencing this, I think that there are many similarities and differences between the operations of coffee, banana, and pineapple plantations. One main difference is the initial intended role of these products in the supply chain. Although coffee was grown…
Biodiversity & Hanging Bridges
On Saturday, we had the opportunity to hike in the rainforest of Misticos Hanging Bridges Park. There were many similarities and differences between Monteverde’s cloud forest and Arenal’s Hanging Bridges rainforest. To start off, in both locations, land that primarily served as a farming area was transformed into land that simultaneously served as a tourist…
Life on the Farm!
Today, we visited Life Monteverde and learned about the lifestyle of a Tico farmer as well as the daily operations on the farm. At the start of the tour, we split into groups that each focused on finding the answers to different questions regarding Life Monteverde. My group focused on finding out what Life Monteverde…
Sustainable Tourism in Monteverde
Today, through visiting the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve as well as sitting in on a lecture by Don Guillermo, I was able to gain a better understanding of how productivity, conservation, and sustainability serve as competing interests. In this case, productivity refers to how successful a business practice is, conservation refers to efforts to improve…
Escape From Reality: Monteverde
Today, we left Heredia in the Central Valley and made our way to the mountains of Monteverde. On the drive there, I was able to observe Costa Rica gradually transform from the dense, lively city that is Heredia into the remote, quieter mountains that make up Monteverde. As we drove farther away from Heredia, I…
Gourmet Coffee~
Today, we were able to experience the Cafe Britt Coffee Tour and learn about a new part of the coffee supply chain: the roasting process. In addition to walking through the factory itself, we sat in on a lecture where we learned about Cafe Britt’s business model, particularly its marketing tactics. I was intrigued to…
Dia @ Doka
Today, through the Doka Estate Coffee Tour, I was able to gain a deeper understanding of global supply chains. I learned about all of the steps that it takes for the coffee bean plants to gain market value in transforming into the highly demanded good that is a cup of coffee. Prior to today’s tour,…
So Far So Good
My first impression of Costa Rica is that it is a warm, lively, and well-established country. I also get the sense that they value rest a lot in Costa Rica; learning that many businesses are closed on Sundays, I feel that Sunday is treated as a true rest day here much more than it is…
Café Sostenible
Costa Rica’s emphasis on sustainable initiatives resonates with me as both impressive and progressive. When researching this, I was interested to find out the history behind why Costa Rica was able to become such a strong leader in sustainability. I learned that the 1980s economic crisis led to the largest source of income in Costa…