Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Historias que nacen de la tierra: RECSOIL en Finca Sol Naciente

Duration: 3:41 529 transcript words EN summary

Video summary

Costa Rica stands as a pioneering nation in the implementation of RECSOIL, with Finca Sol Naciente in Santa María de Dota serving as a key beneficiary of the FAO's global soil recarbonization program. This initiative is executed through the Global Soil Partnership and aims to explore how sustainable soil management can enhance productive systems while addressing climate change challenges. The project relies on strong collaboration between national institutions, the private sector, the FAO, and local producers to ensure that agricultural practices are both effective and socially grounded. At Finca Sol Naciente, where coffee is cultivated without agrochemicals or pesticides, the soil serves as the fundamental basis for productivity and quality improvement. The farm focuses on strengthening specific management practices such as maintaining soil cover, increasing organic matter, and boosting organic carbon levels to build resilience against climate variability. By adopting inputs like seaweed extracts, microorganisms, and other biological agents that have been used by producers for some time, the farm demonstrates how traditional knowledge can be integrated with modern sustainable techniques to create a healthier ecosystem without compromising yield or safety. To support these efforts, financial backing from Fosagro has helped train both producers and laboratory technicians in harmonized methodologies since 2018, leading to more robust data collection through projects like Escala. This technical capacity building ensures that decisions made on the farm are backed by reliable information, allowing for continuous improvement of soil health and agricultural output. The ultimate goal is not only to increase economic viability but also to foster a transformation toward sustainable agriculture that prioritizes human health and environmental integrity over mere volume production. The experiences gained at Finca Sol Naciente illustrate how sustainable soil management can contribute to more resilient agri-food systems capable of withstanding future climate shocks. By shifting focus from short-term gains to long-term sustainability, the farm aims to leave a better foundation for future generations while maintaining economic stability. This holistic approach underscores that true agricultural progress requires balancing immediate needs with the imperative to protect land health and ensure food safety for everyone who consumes it today and in years to come.

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Costa Rica is one of the pioneering countries in the implementation of Rexoil. We visited [music] Finca Sol naciente in Santa María de Dota. This is one of the beneficiaries of the FAO's global soil recarbonization program. This initiative is being implemented in the country through the Global Soil Partnership in conjunction with the FAO and seeks to understand how sustainable soil management can impact productive systems through climate change. In this country, this implementation is made possible through collaboration and coordination between national institutions, the private sector, the FAO and, of course, the voice of the producers. [music] the practices that are carried out within the farm from the beginning of having a [music] food plantation, in this case of coffee, I have to be aware that it is a product that has to be free of agrochemicals, [music] pesticides that will affect the health of the [music] human being. It's a product that I take, that my family takes, and that anyone can take . And then that will depend on the way I handle the music on the farm. In coffee systems, the soil is the basis of productivity and the goal is to improve the quality of the coffee, as well as increase resilience [music] to climate change. Under this scenario, Rexo seeks to understand and strengthen the practices implemented on the farm to improve soil management, cover, organic matter, and additionally maintain or improve the increase of organic carbon in the system. In this way, we seek to understand [music] if the practices we are implementing are indeed generating positive changes. Through the Escala project and the support of national institutions and strategic actors, [music] the aim is to improve technical capabilities and thus generate data and information that support the decisions that are ultimately made. [music] Yes, it is very important that there is a transformation in agriculture, [music] into sustainable agriculture, as we have been talking about for a long time. And how is that achieved? Well, [music] is achieved with the inputs that have been worked on, as I was telling you, with [music] with this super-rich stuff with seaweed, with microorganisms, with violins, with viuchap, with all that [music] that we producers are implementing nowadays, which are not new things. The adoption [music] of the Rex Soil initiative in the country has also been financially supported by Fosagro, which has contributed to strengthening the initiatives of the FAO and the Global Soil Partnership, through the training of producers [music] in the sustainable management of the soil and of laboratory technical staff in the adoption of harmonized methodologies [music] and the generation of more robust data since 2018. These experiences [music] show how sustainable soil management can contribute to more [music] resilient and sustainable agri-food systems. All of this contributes to strengthening capacities for sustainable soil management and climate action. What happens is that nowadays we think about volume and we think about the economic aspect of music, which is very important to sustain ourselves over time, but first of all we have to think about health and leaving a better foundation, a better land for future generations in this case.