Several students in the College of Agriculture just returned from a spring break filled with mangos, merengue dancing and a greater understanding of agriculture.

The Agriculture Study Abroad office coordinated two spring break trips to Costa Rica. The nine-day trips involved the departments of entomology, plant pathology, horticulture, agronomy and economics.

The trips were part of three-credit classes during the spring semester.

Students attended class for two hours each week to learn about Costa Rica. After spring break they will give class presentations about their experience.

Kiley Hansen, senior in horticulture and trip participant, said the range of agriculture zones, from desert-like areas to moist climates, make Costa Rica a hotbed of agricultural activity.

“There’s incredible bio-diversity there,” she said. “Costa Rica has so many different biotic zones in such a small area.”

The variety of agricultural destinations in Costa Rica challenged trip coordinators to narrow the focus of trips. One spring break trip concentrated on integrated management of tropical crops in Costa Rica while the other trip explored the agronomy and economics of the area.

Iowa State and the University of Costa Rica have also developed an exchange program through the trips.

Costa Rican students traveled to Iowa last year, and ISU students met with professors from the University of Costa Rica this year.

“We visited research farms of the University of Costa Rica and had a cookout with some students,” said Jessie Lowrie, junior in horticulture. “We traded information about our agriculture systems.”

Students said although they visited a climate vastly different from their own, they were able to bring many ideas back to Iowa State.

“Seeing an agriculture system in a different culture allows you to look at the whole picture,” Lowrie said. “We were able to clearly see how the Costa Rican ag systems impact their economy.”

Trip participants said agriculture in Costa Rica has several challenges.

Limited resources to combat agriculture issues are at the top of the list.

“The low commodity prices make it difficult to economically produce a crop,” Lowrie said.

Universities and farmers have been working together to develop strategies to improve agriculture, and Hansen said Costa Ricans are innovative with their available resources.

“They used what they already had,” she said, such as an extensive compost system to use green waste.

The 20 students and faculty members participating in the integrated management of tropical crops trip visited a variety of agriculture sites including mango, sugar cane, rice and coffee production as well as several research facilities.

Students also had time to explore non-agriculture sites on the trip.

“We spent one day at the beach getting beat around by the waves,” said Hansen, who was slightly sunburned.

The group also went dancing in San Jose.

“We learned, or tried to learn – depending on the person, the merengue and salsa dances,” Hansen said.

Lowrie said one of the greatest challenges while in Costa Rica was not being able to speak the language.

“With my limited Spanish, I had trouble communicating, but we had an awesome translator, Betsy,” Lowrie said.

Bethzayda (Betsy) Matos-Carrion, graduate student in entomology, is from Puerto Rico and fluent in Spanish.

“The people of Costa Rica were very welcoming to ISU students and willing to share their knowledge,” she said.