Co-ops Build a Sustainable World: Inspiration from Costa Rica

By Nicole Noteboom

“Sustainability is in our DNA”—the statement echoed day after day, co-op after co-op.

As in, 23 co-ops in eleven days. I recently participated in an intensive study tour of cooperatives in Costa Rica, as part of a group of cooperative professionals from around the globe, representing their countries and their co-ops: Ukraine, cooperative development; Kenya, credit and finance; Canada, education and finance; Wisconsin, manufacturing and worker co-ops; D.C., electricity; Skagit Valley, food. Plus, the Fresh Food Fairy and former board member at Kalamazoo Food Co-op in Michigan.

Giant palm at Coopelesca

Together, our crew visited co-ops across industries I didn’t even realize included cooperatives, from electricity, salt, and dairy to coffee and the only aeronautic repair worker cooperative in the world! Each co-op is on the leading edge of social, economic, and environmental sustainability, fitting for a country known for the same. We witnessed firsthand how these co-ops are engines of sustainability through their daily operations, social initiatives, and economic impact—each with their own examples as interesting as they were inspiring.

Costa Rica’s national system of cooperatives is designed to support this level of innovation and success. With governmental bodies dedicated to cooperatives, the movement brings together nearly 600 cooperatives and 900,000 cooperative members, representing 21% of the population, and that’s according to the 2012 National Cooperative Census. The Costa Rican system has undoubtedly grown.

Among the main economic contributions, annual co-op exports exceed $264 million USD. Over 33 million people benefit from public transport and 700,000 from electrification services, provided by co-ops. Coffee cooperatives are responsible for over one-third of national coffee production and the generation of 22,000 direct jobs. Dos Pinos, the nation’s largest dairy co-op, pays out almost $1 million USD per day to its producers. This economic impact paves the way for social benefits like farmworker child care, co-op provided medical care, personal finance services, and beyond.

There are more economic and social success stories, but as we forge ahead in this International Year of Cooperatives, and into Earth Month, now is the time to highlight how Costa Rican co-ops are pursuing the theme of building a better world, through the lens of environmental sustainability.

In the same breath as “sustainability is in our DNA” came the acknowledgment of its antagonist: climate change. Co-op after co-op, every host addressed the challenges of adaptation. Even in remote areas of the country, there was no denial; only acceptance, action, and innovation. In their own way, each co-op is exploring solutions and asking what is necessary for survival.

How do we protect our country’s biodiversity? How will we harvest coffee when rainy season comes early? How will we dry coffee when rainy season won’t end? How can we provide hydroelectricity if it stops raining? How can we reduce emissions? How will we take care of our communities? How will we sustain ourselves?

Daunting questions for us all. Yet, Costa Rican cooperatives shine a light on what’s possible when people come together for good.

Inside, you’ll find inspiring stories from four co-ops that exemplify our shared cooperative DNA: Coopeguanacaste, Coopelesca, Coopedota, Coopeacuiculturos.

Like we always say, every day is Earth Day at the Co-op, even in Costa Rica. Learn how these cooperatives are shaping a more sustainable world in Central America—and providing hope to those of us elsewhere.

Coopeguanacaste

Coopeguanacaste | Electricity Cooperative

Rural Electrification Cooperative of Guanacaste, or Coopeguanacaste, is the largest cooperative in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste region. It distributes electricity to homes, businesses, and industries and also sells home appliances, electrical materials, insurance, and telecommunications services—offered to members at favorable prices with fair financing options.

Since the nineties, the cooperative has explored electricity generation through renewables, funding hydroelectric projects and plants. In 2016, it completed its Bijagua Hydroelectric Power Plant —the total cost of work was $65 million USD. This plant alone supplies electricity to 21,000 homes.

Coopeguanecaste has since ventured into other renewables, including wind and solar power, with the installation of several wind turbines and solar panels. Our group had the opportunity to tour the Juanilama Solar Park and Cacao Wind Farm.

Its next endeavor? A gasification plant, which will be a fully circular municipal waste station for non-recoverable solid waste. Read: they will be transforming trash from local communities into electricity for those communities. Incredible!

Coopelesca | Electricity Cooperative

Like its fellow electric co-op, Coopelesca was formed in the ‘60s to electrify rural areas to support everyday life as well as economic development in agriculture, livestock, and other agribusiness. There were small power plants powered by a Pelton turbine or by diesel engines that could only support a few light bulbs or move a few machines. The majority of homes were lit with candles, lanterns, or alcohol lamps.

Coopelesca has also pursued renewables like hydro, provides telecom services, and sells electrical equipment and appliances. Unlike Coopeguanacaste though, our visit to Coopelesca took place in a nature reserve, facilitated by a biologist.

What do electricity and a bioreserve have to do with one other? More than meets the eye. In 2013, Coopelesca purchased nearly 3,000 acres in Juan Castro Blanco Park. First, to preserve precious rainforest and endemic species: several species thought to be extinct have reappeared in the park, alongside the discovery of countless new species! Second, protecting the park means securing access to its rivers and streams—and hydroelectricity.

Today, Coopelesca reliably serves nearly 75,000 members and 84,268 subscribers in an area of 1,850 square miles, with 4,450 miles of line.  

Coopeacuicultores

Coopeacuicultores | Aquaculture Cooperative

Isla Venado is a small, rural island, home to a community of about 1,000 artisanal fishers, 47 of whom formed the Self-Managed Cooperative of Aquaculture, Fisheries, and Rural Tourism (Coopeacuicultores) to provide purpose and profitability. They introduced other skills and means of income, while also addressing the yearning sentiment of some to “get out” and do something different.

During the pandemic, the co-op recognized the need for a more consistent, efficient way for fishermen to sell their catch. And so, they built a floating restaurant. The restaurant serves as a community hub—fish market, eatery, and a space for the co-op to host and educate students and visitors. Our group mucked through the tide flats for a quick boat ride and lunch at the restaurant. Fish pens, teeming with local varieties, float alongside. At that scale, fish aren’t susceptible to disease like the fish pens we know and protest. It would be a mistake to outlaw them here.

Most impressive is the shrimp production— shrimp not for consumption, but to sell as bait—a simple innovation with massive impact. Instead of sputtering out of the shallow bay with worn, gas-fueled motors to reach deeper water and catch bait shrimp, these artisan fishers are able to make the short trip to their co-op to purchase a product they rely on to make a living.

Less time on the water, less fuel consumption and pollution, more fish in the bag, food on the plate, and reason to keep fishing off Venado.

CoopeDota

CoopeDota | Coffee Cooperative

CoopeDota is not your average coffee finca and has emerged as a leader in the global coffee industry through its commitment to sustainability, innovation, and cooperative practices. CoopeDota is actually the first carbon-neutral coffee producer, but they’re not stopping there. As a participant of Project One, CoopeDota is working to achieve Carbon Positive status.

Project One is an ambitious sustainability initiative that seeks to minimize air, water, and soil pollution while also improving crop production. Our tour of CoopeDota was in a seated tractor trailer. The tractor, of course, was running on biogas. Most notably, CoopeDota has used artificial intelligence and other scientific methods to produce an organic fertilizer, FertiDota. FertiDota is a blend of coffee pulp, coffee waste water, fish, and other phosphorous compounds. And its efficacy is staggering! Greenhouse trials of tomato plants fertilized with FertiDota produced flowers twice as fast as traditional methods—37 days instead of 80.

The beautiful part? While CoopeDota is running trials on tomatoes and other vegetables, they don’t plan on growing anything besides coffee. They’ve developed FertiDota in part, to become a more circular business, but to also provide a valuable resource to its community farmers and families, so they can grow healthier food.

It’s safe to say sustainability is in their DNA, and co-ops build a better world, even in its smallest corners.