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View of mountain
ranges via the farm
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I can still hear the Congo music, see
the Ngöbe Buglé Indians walking past the house I lived in, feel the warmth of
the Santa Clara people acting as a second family to me, and of course not to
mention the beautiful mountain landscape covered with farms.
For 3 months I lived in a very small
agriculturally centered town called Santa Clara in Panama (the country) which
resides in Central America. I lived and
worked on a mountain range 1200 meters above sea level on an Arabica coffee
farm. Arabica coffee is grown on
mountain ranges above sea level typically in a misty-type climate in tropical
areas around the world. But that’s
crazy, I am an Ag Econ major; where is the math and statistics component of
this job? No, just labor on the coffee
farm.
I am interested in coffee so I figured
if you want to get into a business it is vital to know the foundation of the
business (i.e. coffee farming). So
first, I contacted Dr. Roger Brown in the Ag Econ program at UK about his new
class which focuses on Ag-based tourism and had a required component to go to
Panama in Central America for one week for a hands-on field work in March (Oh
darn, a required trip to Panama!). I
told him I am interested in getting into the coffee business, and I asked if
there would be any opportunities to find a job on a coffee farm via this new
class). Dr. Brown connected me to Mr.
Alex Thor, who would also be our tour guide in Panama. I signed up for the class and got into
contact with Mr. Thor immediately. Mr.
Thor himself didn’t know a lot about the farming part of coffee so he connected
me with Mr. Nico Armstrong who has been living in Panama for 7 years and
started off working in the Peace Corps.
Mr. Armstrong then knew a family (the Lezcano’s) that would be willing
to take me in to get experience working on a coffee farm. And that is how I got the job.
Life on the farm was simple. I wake up and drink coffee and eat at the
farmer’s house down the road. After that
we may spend some time sharpening the machetes before we start working. Leito Lezcano (the main farmer) owns an
organic farm so most of the work is done by machetes; no machinery! Plus, you won’t ever see a tractor on a
mountain range, right? Everyone in Santa
Clara shares the scars they have via a machete, including me now. Even with experience you can easily cut
yourself; and oh boy does it make you a stronger person.
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Jesse on the coffee
farm after chopping Plantain down to sell
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As far as work on the farm; I pruned
coffee and plantain trees, helped chop weak plantain trees to the root and
re-plant them in different areas, planted new coffee trees, mixed fertilizer in
the barn, etc. Very labor intensive
work, given the fact that you are walking up and down a mountain range (i.e.
the farm) possibly with a 100 lb. bag of fertilizer on your back. I was in
shape! It was back-breaking but peaceful
working on the farm and I gained an even greater appreciation for the hard work
and passion farmers put into their farm.
As far as life in Panama, the pace was
slow and people value family time very highly.
Yes, you have to work for a living, but don’t work too hard because then
you can’t spend as much time with your family; this is how they think. North Americans work really hard during the
week and once they get to the weekend they are too tired to even enjoy it. When I returned to the U.S. I was like “Wow,
why are people eating so fast and in a hurry to get to places?” I was experiencing reverse culture shock. Overall, I miss Panama dearly…
Jesse M. is an agricultural economics student at the University of Kentucky. He is from Louisville, Kentucky.
