Nick- Today we arrived at EARTH University. This is an agricultural school and that focuses on sustainability. They have approximately 450 students from 43 counties. Nearly 25% of the students are from Costa Rica whole the rest are from other tropical regions of the world. Our tour guide was a third year student from Uganda named Peter. This was quite unique because 2 years ago three students and Mr. Ankley traveled to his home town on a different FFA trip. Peter took us to the sustainable plant projects of the university which consisted of hydroponics, aquaponics, and many raised garden beds. Many of these systems are like the ones we have at our own school! Many of the raised garden beds are were made of 2 liter soda bottles, tires, and concrete blocks as a way to recycle resources. We also participated in planting a few hydroponic systems. These plants are sold to the university’s cafeteria or sold at their market on Fridays. After the plants we went to the animals. At the University they have pigs, chickens, quail, and cattle. They have many systems like the United States but on a smaller scale. For example the milking parlor had 4 milking stations. They milk 48 cows that produce about 480 liters per day. Most of the cattle are a mix between Brahman and another breed. We also visited the processing facility for bananas- more on that cool experience in a separate post. After the tour we went back to our hotel room on their 800 hectare campus.
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The UpdatesEach week there will be a new post to the blog, that will highlight our students and there projects. It will also give weekly announcements. Archives
May 2019
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