Day 4 – First Day at a Coffee Plantation

This morning, we woke up bright and early to take of a tour of the Instituto Nacional de Café (ICAFE). It’s a chamber of commerce of sorts that regulates the production and sale of coffee in Costa Rica along with researching ways to improve the quality of the crop in sustainable ways.

Our tour guide, Mario

They get their seeds from their onsite nursery, and are currently experimenting with genetically modifying certain species of the plant to potentiate traits conducive to a bountiful harvest. They are either grown onsite or sold to local producers, to whom ICAFE recommends strains to use in order to control the quality of the crop collectively between plantations.

The coffee plant takes 9 months to produce its cherries, and on average yields 23 bags per hectare when using pesticides, in Costa Rica specifically. 50% of the crop is dedicated explicitly for research, and the rest is given to the workers or sold. The plants are also pruned every seven years so they can be reused without having to replant a seed. However, they can only be pruned four times before the plant needs to be replaced.

A big environmental concern is the use of pesticides. Killing insects obviously harms the natural balance of the ecosystem, but at the same time, a certain amount of chemicals can still be used without harming the insects. Based on the amount of insects and their predators we saw while touring thought, it’s clear that ICAFE is limiting their use of pesticides appropriately.

Overall, seeing the institute was an enriching experience. It was our first site visit to an actual coffee producer so far, and it made me excited for the rest of the trip.

The group exploring the coffee fields