Topography and Transformation in an Evolving Central America
Neil Melancon
Louisiana Farm Bureau
“Under the mountain, a golden fountain…”
—Cities in Dust by Siouxsie and the Banshees
While this class tour has been focused on agricultural production, the trip to both Panama and Costa Rica has been framed, literally and figuratively, by the scenery in both countries.
Certainly the topography of Panama is a central feature, as the narrow isthmus between two oceans abetted the construction of the canal linking them. We learned on the tour that a second canal had been plotted in Nicaragua between their government and China, but has since been put on indefinite hold. The reason, beyond expense, again lies in the land. Panama is a much more geologically stable area than both Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
In fact, Costa Rica is also known as Tierra del Vulcan, or Land of Volcanoes. It is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire, a 25,000-mile chain of more than 450 volcanoes around the ocean. According to our guide, 160 are in in Costa Rica! With so much volcanic activity, earthquakes are a daily occurrence here, though most pass unnoticed.
These geologic features have shaped Costa Rica and certainly its agriculture. The rich soils and warm, rainy weather permit all kinds of crops to be grown. We’ve seen familiar sights such as sugarcane and rice fields right next to each other, as well as more exotic crops such as coffee, cashews and pineapple.
Those same soils allow for a wide variety of uncultivated flora and fauna to flourish as well. At the CATIE institute, their botanical gardens featured a wide variety of tropical plants unknown to most of the tour. The class got to taste the so-called “miracle fruit,” which, when kept in the mouth for a minute, miraculously turns sour fruit like lemon into sweet! The class was also introduced to the Kapak tree, which was sacred to the Mayans for both fertility and funerary rites. One fruit grown there is called black sapote (a type of persimmon) has the highest concentration of iron found in vegetation.
Class XVII is on a boat! A tour of the Bebedero River. The group saw a wide abundance of wildlife and vegetation for only a one-hour ride!
The trees and bushes are full of wildlife here. On Thursday, the class got a boat tour where the wildlife put on quite the display. In an hour, the tour saw blue hummingbirds, red-crested cara caras, green iguanas, tiger storks, basilisk lizards, crocodiles, great blue herons, howler monkeys, and even bats sleeping under a log. The river cut through agricultural fields, and the wildlife seemed to co-exist peacefully enough with the farmers.
The rice and sugarcane fields we saw are flush with birds. In one stop at a rice farm, their shed had grackles, cara caras, and swallows all hanging around the shed and in the fields. Just like in Louisiana, flocks of cranes were in the fields, calmly waiting for an opportune meal.
A volcano rises from behind the rice farm owned by Conarroz, one of the major rice producers in Costa Rica. While this dormant volcano could come back to life and threaten the fields here, the 270-acre farm is under more immediate threat by the government reducing the rice import tariff from 30 to 3.5 percent. While that may be good news for US rice farmers seeking a new customer, it could entirely wipe out the rice production here in Costa Rica in as few as two years.
Costa Rica is known for its environmental preservation. The government has ensured many areas and species are to be protected in perpetuity. What isn’t so protected are the humans making food. Unlike the U.S., farmers do not generally get support from he government, and new policies have made rice farmers in particular an endangered species.
Certainly, the beautiful environment here should be protected in perpetuity. It seems precarious, though, to have a country not produce food and rely on imported food for its populace and imported people in the form of tourism for its economy. As we saw on the tours, people and animals can co-exist. Perhaps Costa Rica can do as much to help the former as the latter.