Finca Monte Claro
Agricultural and ecological farm
The Finca Monte Claro possesses 350 hectares. It is owned by a family whose preoccupation is to find a harmonious relation between human beings and nature.
Far away from the big tourist sites, Monte Claro is part of the Turrialba Jimenez biological corridor. Thanks to its geographical location and its intern structure, the Finca plays an important role for the local fauna and flora.
In this Finca, ecosystems and cultures are mixed: 50 hectares of organic coffee, fruits and organic vegetables, 100 hectares of sugar cane, domestic animals (horses, cows, goats…), rivers, more than 50 hectares of primary and secondary forest, 20 hectares of reforestation. But the local originality is the presence of biological corridors inside the exploitation, facilitating this way the exchange between the flora and fauna.
Production of organic coffee
The culture of the coffee is a plantation of shrubs. As a consequence, such a culture is benefic for the environment (for the air, water and soil).
In addition to that, organic coffee is cultivated without chemical products, only with natural products like leguminous or thanks to specific trees that shade the forest and contribute to the conservation of soils, as these trees provide the soil with organic stuff and facilitate the preservation insects, fungi, mildews and microorganisms, which help the decomposition of this organic stuff and the integration of this latter as nutrient for the land. Consequently, a hectare of organic coffee field loses less than 1 ton of soil per year, whereas any other cultivated land loses up to 200 tons of soil per year.
The culture of organic coffee in the Finca is ruled by international procedures of production and industrialization that guarantee a high-quality and environment-friendly coffee.
On the other hand, the treatment of coffee requires a long process:
1. Extraction of the coffee cherry seeds with two possible methods:
- Dry method: the coffee cherries dry off tumble driers where their caps are taken off.
- Humid method: the coffee cherries are dipped, what makes the caps disappear.
2. Drying: Once the coffee bean liberated, it dries off under the sun during 2-3 days or in machines.
3. Classification: impurities are eliminated, and the grains are gathered in crowds depending on their categories before being baked.
The waste and by-products that are generated during the process of transformation (especially the flesh and the waste water) are highly pollutant.
That is why Costa Rica, known as an excellent coffee producer, has to reduce the quantity of water required to produce its coffee.
The Finca Monte Claro is working with a beneficio that employs the dry method. What is more, the beneficio takes advantage of the waste thanks to the production of organic compost, which can be used in the same coffee plantation. A biodigestor is elaborated to use the organic wate as a source of energy in the beneficio.
Strategic Association: APOT
The Finca Monte Claro works in collaboration with the Association of Organic Producers of Turrialba (APOT), which allowed the establishment of the beneficio on the exploitation to transform not only the coffee produced in the Finca but also that of organic producers of the region, such as the indigenous populations Cabecar de Chirripó.
The Association of Organic Producers of Turrialba was founded in 1998 thanks to 28 producers in favour of values such as the dignity of agricultural work and to the promotion of an environment-friendly development. The Association aims at facilitating the development of alternative cultures and the marketing of organic products in order to allow a rational use of the land and to increase the income of famer families in Turrialba. Today, APOT is constituted of 235 producers, 70% of which come from the indigenous area of Cabecar del Chirripó.
An environment-friendly farming
The Finca’s owners seek to intensify the animal production using tropical resources so as to minimize the dependence of input products and the environmental impact of their importation. That is why cultures of Morus Alba's shrubs (mulberry), plant of great nutritional quality have been developed as base of food for the animals (especially for the goats). As a consequence, the use of commercial products has been decreasing; soil erosion has slowed down...
In addition to that, the Finca is also taking advantage of the waste of the primary system through the artisanal production of organic fertilizers (compost, lombricompost and green fertilizers…), or through the elaboration of a biodigestor that “digests” the bacteria that live in the manure and transform them into biogas, used as a source of combustible.
There is also a drain system based on the decontamination of waste water thanks to the use of aquatic plants or bamboo.
One of the current project is to recycle rain water and water of the rivers in order to reduce the consumption of drinkable water for the farming.
The ecological Finca Monte Claro tries to work in an always more environment-friendly way without forgetting the necessity of productivity, combining handcraft, technology and ecology.
Reforestation for the capture of Co2
The greenhouse gas emission (GGE) is at the origin of the climate change responsible for the global warming. Reducing GGE by 5 by 2050 is an objective that will require radical changes on behalf of governments, people and technology, which means that it will take time.
But “taking time” without compromising these objectives is not easy. One can for example reduce emissions through energy saving or help reduce the Co2 concentration in the atmosphere (thanks to vegetation or young forests for instance).
The Monte Claro Finca not only protects 50 hectares of natural forest but establishes a conservation and reforestation project as well, which goal is to act against global warming by finding concrete solutions.
Since 2004, the Finca participates to the reforestation program dedicated to the capture of Co2 implemented by the American association Reforest The Tropics (RTT) headed by Dr. H. Barres. Their action consists in planting specific trees (which have a return of 35 eqTCo2/ha) and more than 7.000 trees meant to protect biodiversity and threatened species. In fact, it consists in implementing a real biological corridor.
The Finca wants to add about 100.000 trees to this plantation. This project is divided in 20 lots of 100 eqTCO2 each, which corresponds to 5.000 trees on 5 hectares: 20% for the capture of Co2, 80% for the protection of biodiversity. The Finca seeks investors interested in financing one or more of these lots.
Each lot of 100 egTCo2/year during 12 years costs 95.000€. This money finances the plantation and the care for the young forest during the first years. The capture process is followed by an engineer who works for more than 15 years in this land, and the Finca assures the operational responsibility and the care of the plantation. In addition to that, this project is in keeping with the general pattern of actions supported by the government of Costa Rica in order to facilitate the development of this economically devastated region (because of the fall of the coffee prices).
Every project is implemented in collaboration with local labor.
Finca's Organic inventory is under construccion
