Coffee Farming and Monocrops

So Wednesday (February 25th) was Humans in the Tropics day. We had a brief lecture at 8am on coffee production (and some other major crops also). After the brief lecture, we packed into 3 buses and went for a little field trip across town. It was such a great field trip - we went to a local coffee farm that is 100% organic, all-natural, and pesticide free. The place is owned and run by a really cute woman. Her name is Hermida, and she was definitely the cutest woman ever. She does everything herself with the help of one full-time employee and a few of her sons.

All-natural, organic, pesticide-free coffee farm

She's had the farm for nearly 30 years now, and it sits on a 2 Ha plot of land, along with 4 Ha her son owns next door. She has two rivers that run through the farm, and she has kept the forests intact around the rivers to preserve the watershed. Not only does she plant coffee, but also medicinal plants, some used for bug repellent, others to prevent erosion and for making her own pesticides and fertilizers. Many of her practices are traditional, one of which is using the moon when planting. She plants during the waning moon (gets better results), plants grow faster in crescent moons, etc. It was really interesting to see how every little thing she does on that farm has a purpose.

She grows bananas because she uses the massive banana leaves to shield her young coffee plants from the sun. In modern coffee farms, they use plastic bags filled with chemicals to achieve the same thing. Hermida then uses the leaves as a part of her all-natural fertilizer. 

We spent most of the morning walking through her gardens, learning about all of the plants she grows and what she uses them for. She was really a prime example of how sustainable farming is possible, and it can be very beneficial for not only the farmer and the consumer, but for the environment. We also talked about how Doña Hermida does not associate with a co-op. This allows her to sell her products directly to consumers, so she has taken out the middleman in coffee production and is able to make a larger profit.

Coffee beans still on the plant. The redder the beans, the higher-quality the coffee.

Towards the end of the morning, she brought us to her drying house, where she keeps all of her coffee beans drying in the sun. There were so many types of coffee, and if I had any knowledge of coffee-lingo I would tell you what they were...

The greenhouse where she keeps all of her drying coffee beans

We stayed at her farm for lunch, which consisted of primarily fruits and vegetables grown in her garden. It was absolutely delicious! After lunch, she let us help her hand-grind coffee beans to make hot coffee, which was really fun! 

You put the coffee beans into the hole at the top and grind it into ground coffee

After we took turns grinding up the coffee beans, she brought out her coffee maker and a pot of hot water. We could finally see this whole process coming full-circle, from the coffee plant to the de-shelling process to drying the beans to grinding them into a powder and finally making coffee. It was such a long process, and it's incredible that she does this whole thing by herself.

The best kind of coffee maker (and environmentally friendly too!) You pour the coffee powder into the bag at the top and just add hot water! 

Learning about coffee production was definitely an eye-opening experience. We had a few lectures on sustainable farming and the effects of monocropping on the environment. So unfortunately, the rest of this post isn't quite as positive as the first, but I think it's really important for people to know about because this type of farming is what we're supporting when we buy fruits and vegetables from the supermarkets in the U.S. I'm going to talk about not just coffee, but some other major monocrops that are produced not just here in Costa Rica, but in other parts of Central and South America as well as in Africa.

Coffee

Coffee is very important to the Costa Rican economy. It encouraged the creation of a strong middle class, and in the early stages of coffee here, the government gave away land and coffee plants to people, then bought the coffee off of those farmers for export (basically, there was no way you could lose, unless you really sucked at farming). This caused a huge influx of immigrants from Europe who wanted a part of this fantastic deal. Here in Costa Rica, farmers focused on high quality over high quantity coffee. Now, there are 7.9 million tons of coffee produced annually, but that doesn't even compare to the coffee productions of Brazil, Vietnam, and Colombia. All of the processing of coffee is done in the country of origin, and each phase of production has different impacts on the environment. 

So now a little bit about the coffee plant... Coffee is actually an understory plant. It originally grew in rainforests and was shaded by the numerous layers of canopy above. But in terms of growing coffee for production, plantations don't always for the most environmentally friendly option, as shown below: 

http://www.coffeehabitat.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/shadelayers1.jpg

"Rustic growth" is not super common anymore, but essentially it is when coffee is still being grown in the rainforest, with numerous layers of canopy above it. "Traditional polyculture" reduces the amount of canopy, and so on until you get to "shade monoculture" and "Sun coffee." These last two are the most commonly used today. Sun coffee is probably the worst, as (1) the coffee is not being shaded and has a higher risk of being affected by a fungus that can ruin an entire crop of coffee and (2) this also contributes the most to erosion, as there are no other plants around with larger roots to hold the soil together, or even to just add nutrients. "Shade monoculture" is a close second to sun coffee. This is slightly better, as there are trees planted between the rows of coffee, which not only adds nutrients to the soil, but can also help prevent erosion. 

There are numerous negative environmental impacts of coffee, including deforestation, sedimentation, erosion, and run-off of pesticides into local waterways. In large coffee plantations, there are numerous chemical inputs which contribute to the run-off. There are huge amounts of biodiversity loss, which for a tropical environment with a lot of biodiversity, it can be devastating. Unfortunately, this is also an unstable business. Coffee is a seasonal crop, so there are many social problems associated with coffee plantations (people are often out of work for months at a time). 

And that was just coffee. 

Bananas

The story of bananas is a little different from that of coffee. Once upon a time, there was a United States-based company called United Fruit (currently known as Chiquita). They came into many Central American countries and basically took over the banana industry. At first it was very helpful. Because bananas were grown in the middle of Costa Rica, they put in a lot of time and money into building railroads and roads for transportation. Many think that without United Fruit, railroads may not have made it to the country for a very long time because of the high cost. This company had a lot of power in the government, as they controlled much of the economy of not just Costa Rica, but Guatemala, Nicaragua, and numerous other countries. They bribed the government and were able to bend rules to benefit their company. Today, this giant company isn't in control anymore, but Chiquita and 4 major banana companies are, and they still have a lot of influence. These companies control the prices, they control the trade, and many don't respect labor codes or workers' rights. 

So besides all of those social and economic impacts of bananas, there are numerous environmental impacts. Deforestation is a major one, along with land transformation to grow these huge banana plantations. Banana plants are pretty tall, and require a lot of upkeep. Something not many people know is that these plants only produce one bunch of bananas per plant. So after each bunch is produced, a whole plant is cut down and a new one is planted. The rest of the banana plant is waste, typically not used for livestock feed or anything, which is such a waste. There are also huge chemical inputs. They are picked green, shipped, and then when they are ready to sell, and ethylene gas is sprayed until the bananas turn yellow. Soil erosion, chemical runoff, and waste are other major environmental impacts of bananas. 

Fair-Trade

When you go to the grocery store, how often to you buy Fair Trade products, such as coffee? If and when you do, its to support the local farmers who are growing that product and directly selling to Fair Trade. The purpose of Fair Trade is to ameliorate price swings for the producer. If there is a low year for sales, the producer is guaranteed a price no matter what the sales are. It offers growers a fair price, which is the gist of Fair Trade. They are given decent labor agreements and are usually offered community and business development, such as the building of schools and scholarships for the children of farmers to go to college. Fair Trade eliminates the middleman. The growers trust the corporations to assure fair wages. In terms of what the consumer is getting out of this deal: we feel genuinely good about buying Fiar Trade coffee because we're doing good for the grower. But are we really?

There are thousands of farmers worldwide (mostly Central / South America and Africa). All of them get an "equal" share of sales profits at the end of the year. But when this is spread out over the thousands of farmers, their families, and employees, this turns into an extra $0.18 per person per day worldwide. In some places, this is a lot. But how is this helping these people? Is this even a viable option for these farmers? I don't know. They should be getting more, but how? It's all based on sales, so do we all need to up the amount of Fair Trade coffee we buy? 

So where do we go from here?

There is no easy answer to this question... We debated this for a long time, easily over an hour. These were some of the ideas that we were collectively able to agree upon: 

- There should be a fee on products that are not organic, all-natural. We should "punish," in a sense, those who do not buy organic, and that "punishment" should be paying extra for all of the chemicals they are purchasing along with the product. Reward those who buy organic with low prices, not the other way around. 

- Developed nations consume too much. We often forget that we don't actually need coffee to survive. But cutting down our consumption, we can collectively reduce the negative environmental impacts these huge plantations have. Cut back one cup a day. Or buy coffee brands that have certifications. There are dozens out there, including workers rights, less environmental impacts, all-natural, organic, etc. Buy coffee that tells you exactly where your coffee is from, who the farmer is. You'll feel better and will be doing better, too. 

The biggest message I got from that day was to just think more about where our food comes from. We have become so disconnected from the production of our food, so we don't think about the process. So think about the process, do your research, and buy smarter.