Appropriately, my journey began with a cup of Starbucks coffee bright and early on Saturday, 6/20. Coope Tarrazu and Coope Dota, the two coffee cooperatives we are working with sell some of their coffee to Starbucks. Instead of¨"community to cup", I am tracing the coffee backwards. So, what is a coffee cooperative? Farmers that choose to be members of a coffee cooperative sell their crop to the co-op. The cooperative is then responsible for finding buyers to export the coffee to other countries. Coope Tarrazú has 2,600 farmers as members. Coope Dota has 750 members. Of the 73, 000 coffee farmers in Costa Rica, 62% are in cooperatives. Farmers can sell their coffee directly to buyers, but belonging to a co-op can offer more security as well as offering social programs for the local community.
So, why is the Earthwatch team here? One of the big challenges to environmental sustainability is improving the roduction of the farm while decreasing its impact on the local ecosystem. During the "Green Revolution" of the 1960´s and 1970´s, Costa Rican farmers shifted from more traditional rustic farming practices to more intensive methods, where coffee was produced in full sun with synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Currently, there is more and more recognition that such intensive farming practices can be more productive in the short-term, but have long-term, serious negative effects on the environment. For example, in Costa Rica, coffee growing regions have some of the highest rates of several types of cancer associated with pesticide use. In addition, most of the coffee is planted on steep, eroding slopes. Seventy percent of the nitrogen fertilizer gets washed into the rivers as runoff, causing problems for aquatic ecosystems. This project was designed to help increase sustainable coffee farming practices in the Tarrazú region of Costa Rica, with the ability to be replicated in other farms and coffee regions.
So, why is the Earthwatch team here? One of the big challenges to environmental sustainability is improving the roduction of the farm while decreasing its impact on the local ecosystem. During the "Green Revolution" of the 1960´s and 1970´s, Costa Rican farmers shifted from more traditional rustic farming practices to more intensive methods, where coffee was produced in full sun with synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Currently, there is more and more recognition that such intensive farming practices can be more productive in the short-term, but have long-term, serious negative effects on the environment. For example, in Costa Rica, coffee growing regions have some of the highest rates of several types of cancer associated with pesticide use. In addition, most of the coffee is planted on steep, eroding slopes. Seventy percent of the nitrogen fertilizer gets washed into the rivers as runoff, causing problems for aquatic ecosystems. This project was designed to help increase sustainable coffee farming practices in the Tarrazú region of Costa Rica, with the ability to be replicated in other farms and coffee regions.
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