A History of Innovation

When EARTH’s founders acquired the 8,154-acre property to build the university campus in the late 1980’s, the property included an active commercial banana farm. EARTH wanted to minimize the environmental impact its campus and operations would have, so it hired an international group to do an environmental assessment of the property and make recommendations.

The group’s recommendation was to eliminate the banana plantation because traditional banana production required heavy use of chemicals and produced massive amounts of organic and solid waste. In addition, the banana industry was known for its harsh and dangerous working conditions. One of the reasons EARTH had chosen the traditionally poor eastern lowlands of Costa Rica for its campus was to have a positive impact on social and economic conditions in the area, not to contribute to existing problems.

EARTH University President José Zaglul explains how EARTH decided to keep the farm active, “We listened to the arguments against continuing banana production on campus, but eventually chose to ignore the advice. We realized that we had an opportunity to be an example to our students, prove to the world that sustainable agriculture is possible, and to transform an industry known for its environmental and social abuses.”

Since those first days, EARTH’s professional farm managers, faculty, students, graduates, and outside researchers have been experimenting and innovating on the farm. In the early years, EARTH was a pioneer of solid and organic waste recycling in the banana industry and now EARTH continues to innovate by applying organic techniques to reduce the impact of conventional banana production. The result is commercial banana production that has a significantly reduced impact on the environment, and which strives to have a positive impact on the lives of its employees and their communities.