5/18 Pineapple Exports

Costa Rica's country brand of Essential Costa Rica has a mission that states that Costa Rica is a place where nature surrounds you, where happy and educated people choose to live in peace, where quality products are made and shared, and talent, innovation, and dreams abound. Pineapple is considered one of Costa Rica's largest agricultural exports. This export also follows the mission of their country brand. The plantation that we toured today showed us a whole new side of pineapples that we never even had considered. I know I myself always just assumed the pineapples were grown, harvested, and shipped to the stores. There is a much bigger process though. The pineapple farms are so big, covering many hectares of land, following the mission of being surrounded by nature. Not only are the plants beautiful, but nothing has to be destroyed to plant the harvest. The workers in the plant seemed very educated about the proper procedures and processes that need to be followed in order to determine which pineapples were ready and which were not. They ensure they are sending quality products by inspecting each fruit. Since one person can not check every single fruit because a truck of five thousand are delivered at one time, they used a system and whole conveyors length of workers to sort and cut the tops of the fruits. They even have employees to inspect the ones considered rejects to determine if they can be used for other items such as concentrate. By following all of these processes they ensure that only the best fruits make it to packaging to be exported to other countries. This is the mission of Essential Costa Rica.

The whole process also follows the country's goal of maintaining sustainability. We learned today that one farm can be harvested twice in a year and each plant produces two pineapples. This is very sustainable because it's less space that needs to be used. We also learned that they do not use machinery to harvest the plants, all plantations are harvested by workers. This helps to prevent damage to the land and trees and well and prevents any machine fumes being dispensed into the air. All processes are completed in one factory, they don't have to transport the fruits around. As the fruit is taken off the truck it is then inspected and clean and then employees put them directly into their packaging boxes. They are then placed on pallettes and placed in a cooler until they are ready to be shipped. The factory even has their own boxes that they prepare as well as all the lables needed. By having these efficient workers, it helps to maintain good product quality as well as sustainable practices.