Rural Tourism - Agriculture

Costa Rica is very well known for its agriculture. Not only has Costa Rica passed Hawaii as the number one pineapple exporter in the world but in many opinions they have some of the best tasting fruits you can imagine. The volcanic soil and different elevations lend itself to many different types of fruits and vegetables.

One of the most common plants that has made Costa Rica famous is the coffee plant. This plant is grown mostly in the Central Valley and is very Costa Rican. If you know a family that was in the coffee industry they are probably of high class or maybe even a politician. Unfortunately you cannot say the same about Costa Rica’s other major crop which was the banana. The coffee had many different Costa Rican owners where as the banana crop was managed by a capitalist empire known as the United Fruit Company. The company just wanted cheap land and wages. These crops have two very different histories. The coffee brought pride, culture, and development to the capital city. The banana brought, disease, low wages, strikes, and corruption in a history that wants to be forgotten.

Along with coffee and bananas Costa Rica is home to many more types of agriculture just depending where you are. In the north San Carlos area you will find a lot of yucca which happens to be a dry tasting root vegetable that tastes rather good. You can also find plantains in many different areas of the country. Just stop by the local fruit market if you want to get an idea of the different types of agriculture you can find in Costa Rica.

We can credit agriculture with economic growth in Costa Rica but we can also say it took away a lot of Costa Rica’s natural beauties. Before they knew the importance of the rain and cloudforest, farmers were taking down everything they could to start farming. The history of agriculture in Costa Rica is an interesting story and should be talked about by all guides on all trips to Costa Rica.

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