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Costa Rica Agriculture

Agriculture in Costa Rica has been around for hundreds of years and it is believed that it began in 3000 BC with the raising of fruit trees such as avocado, “nance” and guapinol as well as tubers such as yucca and “name”. Later on in the development of Costa Rica’s agriculture, corn became a staple item and that hasn’t changed since. Click through the different sections of our site to find more information on the import and import export/'>export markets for fruits and vegetables, Costa Rica’s history tied to agriculture and recipes using Costa Rican ingredients.

These are the basic agricultural products of Costa Rica:

Sugar cane	Banana
Pineapple	Fresh whole cow milk
Oranges	Unhusked rice
Canteloupe melon	Fresh fruit
Palm oil	Green coffee
Potatoes	Watermelon
Indigenous cattle meat	Indigenous chicken meat
Cassava	Plantains
Hen eggs	Tomatoes
Fresh vegetables	Indigenous pork meat
Ginger	Pepper
Papaya	Avocadoes
Berries	Roots and tubers
Grapefruit and pomelos	Plantains
Yams	Mangoes
Nuts	Cocoa beans
Lemons and limes	Strawberries
Coconuts	Sesame seed

Where can you get these Costa Rican agricultural products? Your best choice is to go to the several Farmers’ markets located throughout Costa Rica. There you can purchase bananas, strawberries, guavas, mangoes, apples, melons, blackberries, oranges and papayas, and you can get vegetables such as squash, eggplant, broccoli, spinach, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans and carrots. Although you cannot take fresh produce with you overseas, you can enjoy the fruit and vegetables while you’re visiting or you may even take fruit preserves or dehydrated products with you. Costa Rica’s organic products are also available to you as beauty supplies and personal hygiene products such as export quality shampoos, lotions, creams, soaps, toiletries and much more, which you can purchase in supermarkets.

Some Costa Rica agriculture products you may want to try:

star fruit	passion fruit
macadamia nuts	pejibaye
jocotes	guayaba and cas
mango	papaya
guaba	plantain
cashew fruit and cashew nut	avocado
"mamon chino" (similar to rambutan or lychees)	cassava (yucca)
ginger	tiquisque

Agriculture in Costa Rica is probably the foremost factor in the progress and growth of this tiny Central American country. The main products you’ll find in Costa Rica are: Banana and coffee fresh fruits such as pineapple, papaya, mango and watermelon, fruit pulps and juices, milk and dairy products, shrimp and tuna fish. About half of this production is purchased by North America. Costa Rica agriculture has defined much of the way ticos live: The diet is strongly based on products individual farmers raise in truck gardens for their daily sustenance. Corn, beans, yucca, vegetables such as cabbage, lettuce and capsicum are commonly found in backyards in rural areas, and even in the city it is not uncommon for families to have fruit bearing trees in their gardens.

Organic agriculture in Costa Rica and organic farming has grown in popularity and more farmers are turning to this sustainable development current. coffee has been one of the first products to follow the current and cacao, banana were quick to follow. Now it is common for the local market to offer organic products such as tomatoes, lettuce, celery, cucumbers, string beans, beets, chayote, broccoli, bananas, plantains and more. Hand in hand with the growth of organic products has been the rise of Fair Trade agriculture products, where buyers can purchase directly from the producers or with the least quantity of intermediaries. Ask our travel advisors about the best locations to find and taste this Costa Rica agriculture products and to enjoy a taste of the tico produce.