Sustainable Agriculture in Costa Rica, the United States, and at Bryant University!

Our Don Juan farm tour guide!

In Costa Rica, our group’s goal was to learn about the agriculture industry and analyze sustainability practices in relation to the topic.  During our trip, we visited many different locations that helped us achieve this goal.  Once back at Bryant, our group used our knowledge from our experiences in Costa Rica as well as research to come up with ways in which the United States and Bryant University can be more sustainable in regards to agriculture.  In this post, we describe our experiences at Don Juan farm, the Dole Banana Plantation, and various coffee farms.

Before the adventure through Don Juan's one hectare organic farm, we were actually able to experience a divine lunch consisting of fresh tilapia, rice, beans, and an organic salad. This food, along with the rain forest environment, introduced us to what his farm was all about: fresh, organic and local ways of remaining sustainable.

As we devoured our food while listening to the sounds of the rain forest, our minds wandered as to where the ingredients to our meal had come from. To our surprise (but not the locals') it was actually created from ingredients straight off the farm itself, just a few steps away. Throughout our trip in Costa Rica, it had been normal for our meals to be produced straight from the farm we are visiting, or for the ingredients to be imported from the local markets and farms surrounding our hotels. From our experiences, we could taste the difference between the food there and the food back in the U.S. None of the food in Costa Rica seems to be frozen (for preservation), and everything is local, which provides consumers like us the opportunity to experience fresh and organic ingredients, while also helping the local businesses and their owners.

Carlos unwrapping bananas.

Dole Banana Farm is ISO 14001 certified for their effective environmental management system.  Our amazing tour guide Carlos talked about how the farm is eco-friendly and sustainable.  One of the things they do in order to be sustainable is maximize their water absorption in order to use less soil for the banana plants.  Fun Fact: banana plants are 90% water! Also, they try to reuse the water as much as they can during the process where they rinse and pick out the bananas as seen below here. 

During our trip in Costa Rice we realized how much it rains there.  Carlos talked about how the farm has a high technology irrigation system to measure the water balance and soil moisture.  The reason why they do this is because they want to avoid under/over irrigation, conserve energy, and also decrease the fertilizer usage in order to reduce carbon footprint.  This Dole Banana Farm cares a lot about their carbon footprint.  They try to reduce greenhouse gases by developing new tools to reduce consumption of agrochemicals.  The amount of effort they put into their products in order to be eco-friendly is truly amazing. 

Pile of coffee beans at one of the coffee farms we visited!

We visited a lot of coffee farms during our journey in Costa Rica. Each one was just as sustainable as the next, and all labor was performed manually. They picked the coffee beans off the tree by hand which took about an hour to fill an entire basket. Workers cut down all of the dead trees as well. All of the coffee farms had at least one area where they grew shade grown coffee trees. This means that the coffee beans grow slower, which produces crops with more caffeine.  This leads to the production of stronger coffee. After the beans are picked and washed they are laid in the sun to dry for a couple of days. At the Espiritu Santo Coffee Farm, they only roasted about 5% of their coffee which meant that they didn’t have to use high levels of electricity and many supplies to roast the coffee. Leaves from plants used in the process are used in a sustainable manner, as they fertilize the soil rather than being thrown away. Branches from these plants would then be efficiently used as fire wood to roast the coffee, rather than being disposed of.

Our group has brainstormed multiple ideas in order to make Bryant University more sustainable.  Our first idea is planting ferns around the Bryant pond.  The ferns will create a clean, reusable water system for our campus.  Planting the ferns is low cost and very simple to implement.  Bryant University will not only save money on their water system, but they would also be making a profit as retired ferns contain arsenic.  Arsenic can be sold for $85 to cellphone manufacturing companies to produce batteries.  

Another idea is to have clear trash bins for food within the townhouses.  Since seniors have to cook their own food, a lot of waste is produced which can be composted.  This compost could then be used as fertilizer for farms in the Smithfield area.  Bryant University will be able to give back to the community.  If we implement these ideas on our campus, we will be one step closer to becoming a more sustainable university.  Not only will this benefit our campus, but it will also influence the students to live a more eco-sustainable lifestyle. 

After researching Aramark on their sustainable practices, we found that Aramark has recycled 170 tons of cardboard, 2,400 pounds of aluminum cans, and 12 tons of scrap metal in the past year. Here at Bryant University, Aramark made a difference by doing a food weigh-in from 5 p.m. till 8 p.m one night in Salmo. This meant that all students, instead of throwing out their wasted food, dumped it into a bucket that was on top of a scale to see how much food was wasted in one dinner session. Bryant University students wasted over 106 pounds of food in just those three hours at dinner. This really brought attention to the students that this was not acceptable.  We should be taking smaller portions and going up to get more food if we are still hungry.  Bryant can improve in this area by weighing food waste more routinely so that students do not forget that they are being wasteful.  In addition, Salmo can provide smaller plates so that students are forced to take less food.  With a little effort, Bryant University can become even more sustainable!

Team Agriculture with Carlos, The Banana Man!

-Team Agriculture: Ellissa Cho, Autumn Harrington, Courtney Smith, & Ronald Wagner

@BryantMKT421