Bananas are not "trees", but rather herbs!

Today we had the opportunity to visit the banana plantation that is located here on EARTH campus, their bananas are sold here in Costa Rica as well as transported into the USA.  Below you will find some pictures of that experience!

This is me and the banana farmer.  He was cracking jokes (via the translator), and telling me to smile more but it looks rather like I am laughing.  He also didn't want me to forget where I was which is why I pointed at the EARTH logo.  He is one of the managers of part of the banana plantation and oversees 121 hectares and 32 workers.  He was a very happy man even though he seems to have a hard tough job, but he kept emphasizing how well he is treated and paid, and he has been growing bananas for 22 years (longer than I have been alive!)

 Did you know that banana plant only produces one bushel in its short lifetime.  Here is a picture from left to right of 4 "generations" of bananas.  The one that is cut down is the great grandmother which has produced and then been cut down.  The comes the grandmother which is currently producing bananas followed by the mother which is just starting to grow large so when the mother dies it will take its place.  On the far right you can see a "baby" banana plant which will be the future banana tree.  So all and all the plantation is in a way "moving" as it moves with the banana plants.

 This worker is carrying a bunch of bananas which is about 240 bananas per bunch and weighs about 120 pounds, which is more than this guy even ways.  The bananas have these blue bags around them which helps protect them from insects and diseases which reduces the chemical application required for the "perfect banana".  Throughout the tour they kept mentioning how the US only wants "perfect bananas" so they have to cater to the market which is why they use the plastic bags and inside the bananas are separated by little foam.

 This is the processing part of the banana farm.  The ladies in the background are the quality control and they are taking the huge bunches of bananas and cutting them down into the groups we see at the grocery store.  They are also doing quality control and are separating them by US markets, Costa Rica markets, as well as the bad bananas used as fodder for the livestock on campus as well as the compost.  The bananas are then put back into the water and floated down to they guys that are putting the bananas in flats and then into boxes. 

Here is a finished box of bananas that comes into our grocery stores.  They try and incorporated all different sizes into each box.  These boxes then go onto a truck where they will arrive at US grocery stores about one week later.  This plant produces about 3 truck loads of bananas (boxed) per day and this is done year round.  They have figured that each hectare of planted bananas produce about 2,000 boxes of bananas. 

Overall I now have a great appreciation for how much work is behind bananas and will never again complain about the price of bananas!  In the afternoon we were inside discussing carbon management in forest and farms and then had a great discussion on global climate change.  Four of us then went with Professor Skole into the forest reserve to scope out a site we will be using later this week.  I had a great day today and was a major learning experience for me.  In the morning we will be working with the regular EARTH students and will be working on sites throughout EARTH University and then will be in the forest in the afternoon learning how to be safe in the forest here and learning a little bit about the rain forest ecosystem!