raise beef, 8% raise crops, and 12% generate income
through some other activity (CoopeSanta Elena, R.L.,
impubl. data).
Since 1989, coffee production has received stimu-
lus from the efforts of the Coope, a 500-member co-
operative involved with five community enterprises:
(a) grocery outlets, (b) an agricultural inputs store,
(c) coffee processing and roasting facilities, (d) an
artesans' workshop and retail outlet, and (e) a farm
in San Luis for local landless farmers. The Coope is
also involved in organic vegetable production and
marketing, technical assistance and financing for
coffee production, and environmental education. It fi-
nances 50% of the cost of establishing a coffee patch,
provides technical assistance to producers, and pro-
cesses and markets the coffee. In 1988, there were
about 60 ha of coffee on as many farms. In 1996, about
90 ha were planted by 75 producers (CoopeSanta
Elena, R.L., unpubl. data).
Marketing has been a key element of the coopera-
tive's success. Monteverde producers receive among
the highest prices in the world for their coffee because
of its high quality and favorable marketing outlets.
The Coope roasts and attractively packages the cof-
fee locally, thereby serving the substantial local tour-
ist trade. Local sales represent 10% of the total coffee
sales and generate 20% of the coffee revenue. Of the
coffee sold on the national and international markets,
40% is sold through a specialty coffee trader in the
United States. Advertised as "coffee grown in har-
mony with the cloud forest," it fetches a premium
price. As the owner of the outfit explains, "It's not just
good coffee—it has 'mistica' (mystique). There are
other places that can produce good coffee, but not
every place is Monteverde" (R. C. Beall, pers. comm.).
Although coffee production is increasingly attrac-
tive compared to dairying, labor is an impediment.
The coffee harvest requires three full-time workers per
hectare during the relatively brief harvest season.
These coincide with the peak tourist months; the
higher wages in the tourism sector reduce labor avail-
able for harvesting coffee. Over three-fourths of the
labor on coffee farms in Monteverde is family labor.
Much of the growth in coffee production has occurred
in the San Luis valley, a community where tourism
has had minimal impact. The Coope expects aggre-
gate production in the area to increase by about 150%
by the year 2000 but for labor constraints to limit
growth beyond that.11.3.2. Agroecology of Coffee
The seasonal labor requirements of the coffee harvest
is a product of the plant's phenology. During the dry
season, flower buds enter dormancy until the wet
season, which prompts a synchronous bloom in April
and May. The fruit ripens during the rainy season, and
the harvest is concentrated during the beginning of
the following dry season in December and January
(Boucher 1983, Wrigley 1988; Fig. 11.5). Not coinci-Figure 11.5. Ripening coffee beans ready for harvest. Photograph by Leslie Burlingame.401 Agriculture in Monteverde: Moving Toward Sustainability