Diversification and possible conversion to organic farming

With the 2,500 plants planted in 2019, OBATA is the majority in the plantation. The resistance to "rust" of this variety makes it possible to envisage a reconversion in organic culture, all the more necessary given the diversification in progress. We hope to be able to move in this direction from 2020.

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History: coffee farmer ... by chance

The purchase of the 5-hectare property in 2012 was intended to build a small second home on land and also test the possibility of growing vines in the tropics. The land was already planted with coffee on about 4 hectares, but the sellers had assured us that we would have no obligation to take care of it, one of their employees taking care of everything in exchange for the money from the sale to the local cooperative. The employee in question having been dismissed shortly after on justified grounds, we found ourselves alone and without agricultural knowledge at the head of 4 hectares of coffee. So we looked for one employee, then two, and asked for support from the cooperative's agricultural engineers. Gradually more comfortable, we bought the machines to produce our own coffee and decided to export it to Switzerland where we continue to spend 6 months a year. As for the secondary residence, it became the main residence during the 6 months that we spend in Costa Rica.

Youg cocoa plant

Vanilla cuttings ready to plant

Insects hotel

Diversification: vanilla and cocoa

Although the feasibility was tested during a trip to Thailand, we gave up on vine planting due to the difficulty of officially importing seedlings to Costa Rica. The fall in the price of coffee and various discussions with followers of organic farming or permaculture have led us to question the model of monoculture coffee that we inherited. After two months of reflection in the company of an intern, Léo Zoppi, we decided to plant vanilla, cocoa and many species of trees which will serve as stakes, wind protection and to provide shade for the various plantations. During the months of June and July, in addition to the 2,500 Obata coffee trees, we planted 250 cocoa trees, 1,000 hibiscus (protection against the wind between 0 and 3 m), 400 Gliricidia Sepium (future stakes for vanilla and shade for cocoa) and a good fifty trees of various species (protection against the wind and shade). The first vanilla plants (around seventy) were planted in July 2019.
During his internship, Léo had built a first insect hotel and we intend to build others soon in order to encourage the presence of various species near our plantations, including, hopefully, cocoa pollinating insects.