[ti:Teaching Coffee Farmers About the Birds and the Bees] [ar:Karen Leggett] [al:Agriculture Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. [00:04.30]The University of Georgia [00:06.15]is a respected research university. [00:08.75]Thirty-five thousand students [00:10.59]attend the main campus in Athens, Georgia, [00:13.61]and extended campuses around the state. [00:17.03]And among its areas of research is agriculture. [00:20.57]UGA has a center in San Luis de Monteverde in Costa Rica. [00:26.07]This center is for students and visitors [00:29.06]who want to learn more about farming [00:31.35]and living in environmentally friendly ways. [00:34.64]Some students take a class called [00:37.69]"Coffee: From Bean to Cup." [00:40.84]Coffee is one of the most widely traded products [00:44.58]in the world, and the most important [00:47.07]agricultural product for Costa Rica. [00:50.02]Professor Valerie Peters teaches the class. [00:54.19]Her students help her study coffee farms [00:57.82]in an area called Finca la Bella. [01:01.16]Farmers in this area agreed [01:04.07]to grow their coffee sustainably, [01:06.82]using methods that do less harm to the environment. [01:11.46]Most coffee farms in Costa Rica [01:14.79]have one or two different kinds of trees [01:17.94]to help shade the coffee plants from the sun. [01:21.67]In Finca la Bella most farms [01:24.71]have at least twenty kinds of trees. [01:27.16]Many of the farmers have also planted more flowers. [01:31.41]When there are more flowers and more kinds of trees, [01:36.17]more bees will come to pollinate the coffee plants. [01:40.50]Coffee plants can pollinate themselves, [01:43.92]but bees help increase the harvest. [01:47.85]Professor Peters is working with her students [01:51.48]to help teach farmers about the importance of bees [01:55.27]and having more trees and flowers. [01:58.56]she says, "Many of the farmers commented [02:01.57]that they never even thought of bees as having a role [02:05.84]in their coffee production." [02:07.79]Having more species of trees on coffee farms [02:11.76]also provides more places for birds to live. [02:15.55]If farmers have at least ten different [02:18.89]kinds of trees per hectare, they may be able [02:22.43]to have their coffee certified as "bird-friendly." [02:26.52]This is done by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center [02:30.80]in the United States. [02:32.34]Bird-friendly coffee can sell for a higher price. [02:37.10]The University of Georgia is also helping farmers [02:41.55]in Costa Rica increase their income through tourism. [02:46.49]Professor Quint Newcomer directs this program. [02:49.84]He says students help design tour routes through coffee farms. [02:55.31]QUINT NEWCOMER: "These farmers become our teachers. [02:57.76]They are sharing their local knowledge [02:59.55]about how to work the land in a really sustainable way, [03:03.19]and they become the teachers. [03:05.49]But then our students can also help provide them [03:08.43]with ideas and recommendations [03:10.62]about how to improve their tour. [03:12.23]And the more they improve it, the more people want to go." [03:14.37]UGA Costa Rica, as the center is called, also plans [03:19.21]to increase the amount of locally produced food it buys. [03:22.87]The goal is to buy [03:25.03]at least fifty percent locally by twenty-fifteen. [03:28.78]And when the center needs wood for building, [03:31.83]it buys only wood grown locally without artificial chemicals. [03:38.03]And that's the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. [03:42.68]You can find more stories about coffee at 51voa.com, [03:49.75]where you can also find texts and MP3s of our programs. [03:54.89]I'm Karen Leggett.