Since October 15, 1997 fancy, French green beans have been shipped out of the area for export to the United States.  As of January 31, 2005, 6,496,131 pounds have been shipped and checks for $1,591,150.60 have been written to the farmers and to the trucker for transport to the cooperative which exports the beans to the States.  The truck takes 7 hours to reach the cooperative where the beans are graded, cleaned, and packed for shipment. And please note that $3.24 per day is the going wage for a day's work in the area.

    Growing beans among the pine trees with the sprinkler watering the beans

  Sometimes when the seed does not germinate, then replanting has to be done.

  Domingo is watering his beans that are just about to come into production.  The average time from planting to first harvest is 65 days at 6000 feet altitude.

Harvesting the beans is mostly a family affair.  Beans are sent to market every other day and therefore are high manual labor intensive, which means more money for the farmer and his family. You can see that Andreas brought along his soccer ball  just in case he gets a break from helping mom pack the beans.

 Miguel inspecting the beans before weighing them.  If 10 out of 100 bean sample are bad ones or do not meet quality standards, then 10% is deducted from the net weight.

 Aren't these beauties?  

 The 10 ton truck being loaded with cases full of beans.  25 pounds of beans can fit comfortably in one plastic container.

 To see how hard a group of small farmers from Chitapol worked so that they could produce more beans [click here].

To see how available water can change the scene click here.