And now a word from the Boss

Hi!

Today it is my turn to do some writing on this blog. My name is Sebastián Castro Tanzi, and I am one of the researchers in the “Sustainable Coffee Farm Management” project ran by Earthwatch. I have to say that it has been almost a week since our first group of Starbucks volunteers left Tarrazú. With them, we were able to enjoy the beauty of this environment located between the Talamanca mountain range and the Pacífic Coast in Costa Rica.

Earthwatch is about doing science to support sustainable use of resources. This implies generating knowledge to support local stakeholders on their management decision. Scientific knowledge is acquired through research applying the scientific method. On a practical term, it is someone studying a given object or phenomenon under certain rules. Sounds pretty straight forward, right?

But life is not that simple and straight forward. It turns out that the object being studied might constantly change. Take for example coffee production, where the age of the plantation, the variety of plants, the shade tree density, the climate conditions determine the amount of coffee (and the quality) that is produce in a certain field. That is a reason we will have to visit and revisit so many fields during this three year period. Hopefully, thanks to the work of so many volunteer we will be able to understand the mechanisms behind sustainable coffee production.

And than to fulfill this research cycle, the subject doing the study is also constantly changing. While we go on studying something, little by little we start improving our way of viewing the problem. Intuition and analysis of the evidence at hand is very important. I’ve also found out how important in this part of the process is sharing your ideas with others. They don’t have to be necessarily scientist or such. In my case, I often work with volunteers from other latitudes during the field seasons. And I find it such a rewarding experience. For example, to explain why we will be doing something in the field, you have to take time to really understand it. Or to answer an innocent question asked in a field day related to plant growth, soil conservation or any related subject, you have to stop for a second, look around and try to link what is going on in the field with your little knowledge. Many times we can’t even get to a complete answer, but just the fact of standing there in the same environment coffee plants have to grow and farmers have to face every production season, gives you an insight of what is going on. And at the same time we grow and we change. The first time I got wet because of rain while collecting data,

Therefore, I have to say that every single group of volunteers richens my experience here in Tarrazú, for which I am so so grateful. In this occasion (June 2008) I had the chance to spend 2 weeks with wonderful people from all around Starbucks World (and what a big world it is I have to say). They come here to learn about one of their passions: coffee, but I bet that they end up learning about other important things related to themselves. I am just glad knowing that I have so many new friends around the Earth.

Saludos desde Tarrazú!,

Sebastián Castro T.