Through the use of small tractors or modified motorcycles which have arms attached to them to perform fumigation, atomization, weed control and fertilization tasks at an early stage, Costa Rica is managing to reduce labor costs in coffee plantations. For example, “… it is estimated that the time it takes to atomize one hectare, for example, can be reduced from the current day and a half to barely an hour.”

See also “Central America: Figures From Coffee Exports“

Nacion.com explains that “…  The proposal is already being applied commercially on some farms in Brazil and has wide possibilities for use in Costa Rica, said both the executive director of the Costa Rican Coffee Institute (Icafé), Ronald Peters, and the technical director of the entity, Carlos Fonseca. At the farm La Hilda (San Pedro de Poás) for example, the cost of weed control was reduced from $250 a hectare for each application applied in the traditional way, to $50 by doing it in a mechanized way, Fonseca explained.”

“… Besides this change in cultivation practices for sloping areas, in general mechanization requires a change in cultivation practices in all regions. The planting distance between the rows of plants has to be modified, giving more space, to allow the machinery room for maneuver. This will reduce the distance between one plant and another, in order to maintain between 5,000 and 5,500 plants per hectare.”