PurdueAgricultures
From One Farmer to Another
Helping Costa Rican growers improve marketing
By Jennifer Stewart
Editor's Note: Jennifer Stewart, an editor and writer with Purdue's Agricultural Communication department, traveled to Costa Rica in September 2010 to report on joint programs between Purdue and CATIE. To find out more about our programs at CATIE and view a photo gallery, visit
Jaime Salazar and Fressy Campos care about the quality of the agricultural products they produce and the sustainability of their farming methods—you see it in their faces and hear it in their voices.
The husband-and-wife duo own and operate an 8-acre organic farm in Costa Rica's central agricultural valley, where they raise fruits, coffee, cacao, chickens and geese.
The land they farm is hilly—sometimes even mountainous—and a 25-minute drive to the nearest city, Turrialba. They don't use tractors, combines or chisel plows. There's no local co-op to deliver fuel or fertilizer. Everything that the couple plant, nurture and harvest is done with their own hands. It's backbreaking work, but their passion for this lifestyle is evident.
"We set goals," Campos says. "We want to strengthen the environment and help our family survive. This is not only our farm, but rather a model farm so that other families will do the same."
Every Saturday they load their pickup with hand-processed meats and freshly harvested produce to make the trek to Turrialba's organic farmers market.
They are members of the Asociación de ProductoresOrgánicos de Turrialba (Turrialba Organic Producers Association). Because APOT members use growing techniques that are different from conventional methods, which use pesticides and chemical fertilizers, they kept their farmers market separate from the larger one downtown. But while it helped APOT farmers distinguish themselves, having a market located several blocks away from the busier market meant less visibility and customer traffic. They now sell their products at Turrialba's main farmers market.
International Extension Reaches Out
The group's outlook began to change when Purdue University research scientist Tamara Benjamin and some of her colleagues found out about APOT and were intrigued by the farmers' plight. Benjamin, who coordinates Purdue's tropical agricultural research efforts in Costa Rica, is stationed at CATIE—a research university in Turrialba.
Benjamin and her colleagues thought APOT was a good fit for the U.S. Agency for International Development's Food for Peace: Farmer-to-Farmer program. The program connects volunteers in the United States with farmers in developing nations to help make sustainable improvements in food processing, production and marketing. And it's just one of the many ways that the Purdue-CATIE partnership in this Latin American country is benefiting agricultural research and production.
Purdue Extension received USAID funding to send nine Purdue Extension educators to Costa Rica in 2011 to work with 20 of the nearly 250 APOT families. "APOT was a good fit because the organization was already established, and farmers have had a relationship with CATIE for the last 10 years," says Jim Murren of Purdue's International Programs in Agriculture and farmer-to-farmer program facilitator. "They have a need for more business knowledge, so our role is to help them take the next steps."
Murren and Benjamin, who are both fluent in Spanish, coordinate Purdue Extension's presence. Elicier Vargas, an agricultural economist at CATIE, provides expertise on Latin American crops and markets.
The group is addressing such topics as record-keeping, basic accounting, market development and principles of supply and demand. "Instead of record books, APOT had grocery bags full of receipts," Murren says. "APOT coffee is now being exported to Europe, so there's an ever-growing need for more business organization. That's where Purdue Extension can help."
Educators are going to Costa Rica in groups of three from March through October. They meet with APOT farmers and host workshops to share agricultural and business practices commonly used in the United States. Follow their blog at purdueftfcostarica.wordpress.com.
When the first 20 families learn these techniques, they will then train the remaining APOT farmers. Then they will share their newfound knowledge with other aspiring organic farmers. "The families recognize their need for assistance and organization. They want a better understanding of money and product demand," Benjamin says.
"This program is so important because we're letting people know that we're not just producers and traders," Campos says. "We want to show that the project will strengthen the environmental, social and economic aspects. It will let us cover more markets. And others will see the potential we have in our farms."
It's not only APOT farmers who benefit from the program. Purdue Extension educators return to Indiana with a global understanding and a renewed sense of making a difference in the lives of others. "International experience is not something you just come home and sit on," Murren says.
CATIE Unites Researchers
The farmer-to-farmer program is one of the many benefits to come from Benjamin's dual position with Purdue Agriculture and CATIE. She helped CATIE graduate student Eduardo Hidalgo match his research interests with those of Purdue entomology researcher Cliff Sadof. If not for the partnership, Hidalgo, a Costa Rica native, never would have had the opportunity to learn from Sadof while working on his Ph.D.
Hidalgo and Sadof's journey began nearly four years ago, when Sadof visited CATIE on sabbatical to look for opportunities in tropical ornamental plants research. Hidalgo later visited Sadof at Purdue, where he learned research techniques and ways to improve his teaching activities.
"Having a working relationship with people from different countries enhances my chances to be more in touch with what other people are doing," Hidalgo says. "Connections with Purdue and other institutions give local scientists a great opportunity to learn new techniques."
Hidalgo and Sadof have proven scientifically that the size of an exported plant doesn't matter when it comes to transporting insects and plant diseases. Their research, known as the "Clean Stock" program, is changing size regulations on plants imported from Costa Rica. When larger plants are allowed to enter the country, ornamental farmers can earn more profit, and consumers can save more money.
Hidalgo also thinks the partnership with CATIE may have taught Sadof a thing or two. "For researchers at Purdue, coming down to the tropics and working in this diverse environment opens their minds to new challenges and new ways of seeing things. Agriculture is a bit more complicated in this climate and with this plant diversity. Working with us, they start to see how we approach the system. I think that was important because they gained new views they can apply to the emerald ash borer and other invasive pests."
Sadof agrees. "I've been at Purdue for 20 years. In that time, I repeatedly was faced with the same problems and had the same approaches to dealing with them. Working inter-nationally has helped me develop new approaches to looking at com-plicated problems and creating step-by-step approaches to solving them," he says. "It has rejuvenated my research and revamped my teaching."
A Bridge to Other Cultures
Benjamin also has been the catalyst for a study-abroad program that links undergraduate students from Purdue and Haskell Indian Nations University with indigenous tribes in Costa Rica.
Benjamin, Purdue researchers Kevin Gibson and Chris Oseto, and Haskell staff coordinate the program. Students from both institutions live in the same environment as their host group.
Mary Lehmkuhl, an environmental plant studies major, enrolled in Purdue's Maymester trip to Costa Rica in 2010. After arriving in Costa Rica, she and her classmates went to Yorkin, a town on the banks of the Yorkin River. A dugout-canoe ride took students to the Bri-Bri reserve for what they—and Benjamin—describe as a once-in-a-lifetime journey.
"I learned so much more than I would have ever learned anywhere else at any other time," Lehmkuhl says. "Having the mixture of cultural backgrounds made for some great conversations and experiences."
Lehmkuhl's group helped the Bri-Bri Indians trim diseased cacao pods from their trees. Then the group traveled to other parts of Costa Rica to complete service-learning projects. They helped the Cabecar tribe near Turrialba make banana vinegar, while the Guaitil tribe, in the northwestern part of the country, taught students how to make pottery, from collecting the clay to firing the finished product.
"One of the greatest benefits of the study-abroad course is bringing students from Purdue and Haskell together. They don't know one another, and they come from different cultures and often start their journeys segregated into their own groups," Benjamin says. "By the end, everyone is working together for the greater good."
Purdue Agricultures / Story Link/
1