Karen’s family lives in the city of Cusco, Peru. Karen has always loved the outdoors. Her grandparents have a farm in a rural area of Cusco that has a similar climate to Costa Rica. They have various fruit trees and raise livestock as well.
Karen sees that her grandparent’s land is “good land for growing bananas, coffee, oranges and papayas. I want to always focus on sustainability. I want to focus on the land that is similar to Costa Rica, with similar weather, and work there to increase production because the land is capable of producing a lot.” Karen has noticed that the controversy surrounding the production of coca has led to widespread use of chemical spraying to stop the growth of coca leaves. In turn, the use of chemicals, along with the controversy, has discouraged many farmers from growing crops at all. The population in Peru is beginning to turn to other areas, such as natural gas, for their careers. Karen sees the beauty of Peru and wants to encourage people to grow a wider variety of crop types. “Everything needs to have economic value for people to become interested,” and Karen plans to start her own sustainable farm, create jobs and strive for high production rates.
