Region: small farms, big profits

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ Yes, we have bananas. But Costa Rican ones are the same as Honduran, and no one can tell a Central America banana from one grown in Ecuador - which is why none is worth more than another. With the right investment, however, Central America could rival Europe as a place, which produces speciality foods at premium prices - just as France has champagne grapes, and Italy has cheese from Parma.\ \ One of the region's problems, when it comes to agriculture, is that it has few open spaces, which leads to small farms, which are expensive to run. The solution is to concentrate on small quantities of high value-added products. To do this, the region needs help with seed selection, soil management, quality control, and marketing. \ \ With agricultural land in many areas available at reasonable prices, investors should take advantage of the fact most parts of the region have ideal conditions for agribusiness: rich soil, abundant water, 12-month growing season, and short shipping distance to the world's biggest market.\ \ Opportunities\ \ Specialty agribusiness\ Agronomists\ Marketers\ \ \ \ \