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The Importance of Latin America to Food Security
From my previous three posts, one can see that the production of aquacultured seafood is increasing worldwide due to fishery collapses. Although the United States is a large producer of aquacultured seafood, the importance of increased aquaculture production in Latin America will affect regional stability and U.S. and European imports. Food security, with regard ...
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Brazil’s economic slowdown: reason to worry?
In February, co-head of Latin America research at Goldman Sachs’ Global Investment Research Division Alberto Ramos described Brazil’s last decade as ‘truly remarkable’. As the sixth largest economy in the world in terms of dollar GDP, the BRIC member soared through 2007 to 2010 with growth rates of over 5 per cent, reaching a peak ...
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Costa Rica: The Numbers Game
Costa Rica is the happiest country in the world, home to cute sloths and beaches and volcanoes and 5% of the planet’s biodiversity. It’s easily reached from the United States and, increasingly, Europe. In 2011, 2,195,960 foreigners visited the country, a 4.6% increase from 2010. Last month ICT, the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (Costa Rican ...
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Microfinance in Mexico, a closer look
Microfinance in Mexico, a closer look Microfinance in Mexico hit the international headlines in 2007 when its largest microfinance institution (MFI), Compartamos, went public. Questions were raised regarding the potential conflict of interest between delivering shareholder value and protecting the interests of the underlying clients. Could these two apparently contradictory objectives exist in harmony? A ...
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Selling Coffee in the Coffeelands
How do you increase coffee consumption in a country that is filled with coffee plants? On Saturday, March 3, the Campeonato de Baristas (National Barista Championship) was held in a mall in the eastern San José neighborhood of Zapote. Six baristas, all men, competed for the chance to represent Costa Rica in the World Barista ...
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Out of Tourism
“I’m looking into going back to coffee,” Luis says as we drive up the hill to Paraíso, past acres of coffee plants stripped of their cherries. In the four years that I’ve known Luis, this is the first time I’ve heard him or anyone else mention the possibility of going back to coffee. The harvest ...
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The End of Coffee, Part Three: The Winds of Change
The weather here in Costa Rica’s Central Valley has shifted, bringing the December winds that finalize the coffee cherry’s ripening process. With the winds has come cold, the end of the rainy season, and a rash of hats, gloves, and scarves to deal with the temperature shift. Costa Ricans are notoriously sensitive to the weather: ...
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The End of Coffee, Part Two: Christmas is Coming
Christmas! It’s practically here! At least, that’s what retailers would like you to believe. Blinking lights, decorated cypress trees, and waving Santa Clauses peer out from a growing number of houses, and store windows now sport signs helpfully reminding you that you can begin payments now and bring home the item of your choice in ...
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The End of Coffee?
It’s coffee harvest time here in Costa Rica, a period that stretches from the end of August to the beginning of March, depending on the altitude of the coffee bushes, the vagaries of the weather, and the ability of the landowner to find coffee pickers. Here in the Orosi Valley, December and January usually mark the ...