Due to limited internet access over the past few days I have not been able to blog as often as I would like so I know this is a little behind but here it goes!
On Wednesday or Day 3 in Panama we visited a small coffee producers association, UCC. This organization was founded in 1990 with help from a Belgim preist. There are twelve small communites that work within the UCC. This group has a coffee peeler and a grinder which are both crucial steps in the coffee business. They produce around 600 pounds of coffee per year and sell to locals for an annual profit of $900 give or take. An interesting fact about coffee is that it is not a bean it is acutally a cherry, bet you didnt know that!
Our next visit was to Small poultry producer who produces caged pasture chickens that are certified humanly raised. He makes a monthly profit of about $1,500 - $2,000. Jesus has 5 farm hands employees 2 of which work with the chickens and 3 that work directly with him. He also grew tomatoes, Yuka, Swine, Goats, and potatoes so he had a very diverse operation. One cool aspect of his farm was the he had his very own irrigation on his farm. He had damed up a creek that ran alog the property line and installed a pump to get irrigation to his crops during the dry season.
Now we are off to something that most of the team had been waiting for, staying in beach bungalows on the Caribbean Sea. This was a wonderful experice as our bungalow overlooked the ocean and only had air conditioning in one room. All night you could hear the waves crashing on the ocean and could not ask for a more relaxing time. It was quite sad that we did not get to spend much time on the beach during our stay here, but the experiences of agriculture in the area we amazing.
From Panama, The More Things Change The More They Stay The Same,
Matt
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