The Voice
Of America Special English Agriculture Report
April
23, 20112
The University of
Georgia is a respected research university. Thirty-five thousand students
attend the main campus in Athens, Georgia, and extended campuses around the
state. And among its areas of research is agriculture.
UGA has a center in
San Luis de Monteverde in Costa Rica. This center is for students and visitors
who want to learn more about farming and living in environmentally friendly
ways.
Some students take a
class called "Coffee: From Bean to Cup." Coffee is one of the most
widely traded products in the world, and the most important agricultural
product for Costa Rica.
Professor Valerie
Peters teaches the class. Her students help her study coffee farms in an area
called Finca la Bella. Farmers in this area agreed to grow their coffee
sustainably, using methods that do less harm to the environment.
Most coffee farms in
Costa Rica have one or two different kinds of trees to help shade the coffee
plants from the sun. In Finca la Bella most farms have at least twenty kinds of
trees. Many of the farmers have also planted more flowers. When there are more
flowers and more kinds of trees, more bees will come to pollinate the coffee
plants. Coffee plants can pollinate themselves, but bees help increase the
harvest.
Professor Peters is
working with her students to help teach farmers about the importance of bees
and having more trees and flowers. "Many of the farmers commented that
they never even thought of bees as having a role in their coffee
production," she says.
Having more species
of trees on coffee farms also provides more places for birds to live. If
farmers have at least ten different kinds of trees per hectare, they may be
able to have their coffee certified as "bird-friendly." This is done
by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center in the United States. Bird-friendly
coffee can sell for a higher price.
The University of
Georgia is also helping farmers in Costa Rica increase their income through
tourism. Professor Quint Newcomer directs this program. He says students help
design tour routes through coffee farms.
QUINT NEWCOMER:
"These farmers become our teachers. They are sharing their local knowledge
about how to work the land in a really sustainable way, and they become the
teachers. But then our students can also help provide them with ideas and
recommendations about how to improve their tour. And the more they improve it,
the more people want to go."
UGA Costa Rica, as
the center is called, also plans to increase the amount of locally produced
food it buys. The goal is to buy at least fifty percent locally by
twenty-fifteen.
And when the center
needs wood for building, it buys only wood grown locally without artificial
chemicals.
And that’s the VOA
Special English Agriculture Report. You can find more stories about coffee at
voaspecialenglish.com, where you can also find texts and MP3s of our programs.
I'm Karen Leggett.
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