Day 6 CR – Farmer’s Market and El Toledo organic coffee tour – our global citizenship with coffee

Today we all made our way to the farmer’s market.  I decided to walk alone this morning as the walk was less than ½ a km and it was nice to have some alone time when you are constantly surrounded by people.  Leaving the airbnb I turned left (away from town) to go to the farmer’s market and passed some average and humble homes for Atenas.  The road became more rough and less like a road until I came to a dead end of rocks and dirt.  There, I could see to my left  a large spectacular building with a large metal roof housing an outdoor market up on a hill.  I walked over a few rocks and came to a pathway that led to a large highway that I had a cross to get to the market.  As I climbed up the beautiful sidewalk that was built for the driveway up the hill to the market, I noticed people in bright vests directing drivers to parking spots.  I wondered why this was necessary since it was not busy and there were clear marked spots for the cars.  Later, I learned that the people doing this work were special needs and had been offered this work to feel part of everyday life and to have meaning and purpose.  Knowing what I have learned of the Costa Rican people, they don’t leave anyone out.  They care for their sick and they care for those with special needs.  The market was full of rows of metal tables that were filled with fruits, vegetables, honey, wine, and other food products.  A few tables had some artisan wares and shoes. There was a small stand at the end for purchasing food.  We ordered some breakfast items and then were all ushered into a small building to the side of the market that was air conditioned and housed the manager of the market.  He spoke to us about the market and how it came to be.  The market was originally in the center of town but they soon outgrew the area. The Costa Rican government and local business granted them many millions of CR dollars to get this new location built.  There are 82 markets in Costa Rica and they all belong to the same organization.  They set the standards for all the markets and don’t overlap neighbouring market days for being open.  It is a well coordinated and an ethical organization.  They look at pricing in supermarkets and set limits on how high a product can be priced in the markets for competitiveness.  They market people to buy local.  They have expanded recently to include a greenhouse to sell trees and plants.

Following this visit we headed to El Toredo which is a private coffee farmer.  Our host, Gabrielle lived on this farm with his wife and 2 young children.  His father was at the market that day selling their specialty coffee wine and coffee beans.  He greeted us with a large smile and wanted us all to introduce ourselves.  He was very reflective to all the questions we were hoping to get answered during our visit.  He started by talking about the guilt of drinking coffee.  This comment was very interesting and sparked a larger conversation from him on how coffee is actually hurting the planet.  They use valuable space in farming to create farms for coffee which means cutting down forested mountain ranges to plant coffee.  Instead we could be farming vegetables and food but because small farmers can’t compete on the global markets for their produce and are even challenged on the local markets with imports and larger farms, this particular commodity is the only way.  Coffee is not a necessity for life.  He described it as a luxury that people are willing to pay for.  This commodity being a luxury is why guilt might be associated with drinking coffee.  He wanted people to think about how their consumerism influence drives production of one commodity over another around the world.  

He also had a story about why his farm is unique.  Many years ago the government wanted the farmers to use herbicides and because his father was allergic they had to come up with a different way of farming and so had to use diversification farming by planting many different plant species and what looks like weeds within the coffee plants to feed the insects that would normally eat the coffee plants. They have created an organic type farm but through need.  There are less than 5% of coffee growers that are organic in CR.  He warns us that organic is not necessarily better.  Organic has many different meanings depending where the product comes from and at times, it is more harmful to be organic.  I too have experienced this view back home.  A friend of mine works for the agriculture Ministry and told me the small amounts of pesticides that are allowed on farmed products are so less harmful than some of the organic things some people have tried to use.  One example was a farmer who used clay pots dispersed intermittently throughout his crop to get rid of a particular type of bug.  It turned out that these clay pots contained lead which is very toxic to humans.  Without proper regulation and testing some of these methods are far worse.  I think that was his point as well.  He also chose to look at the waste from coffee farming and decided to create by products that could be useful.  He developed coffee flour from the shells, coffee tea, and coffee wines.  He has experimented with over 68 recipes for his wine.  The wine tasted a bit like a sherry and I purchased a ginger version to try with tea.  Overall, this experience taught me to consider all actions when making purchases and his key message was do your research and know what you are buying and what effect it will have globally.