A Seedsman’s Scenic View

Jennifer Zurko

The breath-taking site of a former rose farm that has been one of PanAmerican Seed’s production facilities in Costa Rica fits in perfectly with the overall name of all three farms located in the Cartago Province. Fittingly named Linda Vista, meaning “pretty view” in Spanish, this location (which they simply call Farm 3), produces PanAmerican’s cool-weather crops. With a view of the still-active Irazú Volcano, Farm 3 has the highest elevation of all the farms, which provides the cooler, more temperate climate needed to grow pansies, violas, delphinium and matthiola. The other two farms located in the lower valley are where PanAmerican produces and harvests seed for all of its other crops, including Wave Petunias and Beacon Impatiens. 

The inset is a view of Farm 1, which was originally developed by Claude Hope in 1955, who many in our industry know as the “Grandfather of Impatiens.” In 1982, Mr. Hope sold this location to PanAmerican Seed, and since then, the company has acquired the two other locations within Cartago Province that make up Linda Vista, totaling 116.9 hectares with about 600 employees. Linda Vista supplies about 2.4 billion seeds per year, which is about 40% of PanAmerican’s total seed production. 

Linda Vista has changed a lot over the years, evolving to utilize the latest technology and growing practices, while also adhering to some of the traditions that continue to make them a successful source of seed crops for PanAmerican’s customers all over the world. 

The growing team uses a drone to count buds and flowers on the plants easier and quicker so they know how much labor they’ll need and in what area of the greenhouse for harvesting and pollination. About 70% of their pest management program uses biologicals to control pests. And a newly installed water recirculation system uses leached water collected from the greenhouses where oxygen is injected and the water goes through a filtration system that includes a UV system to remove any diseases and viruses. 

But there are still crops that require a human touch with regard to pollination and harvesting seed. And they even get the help of the honeybees who live in their 40 hives to help pollinate plants that would normally require painstaking effort on the part of humans.

And Linda Vista isn’t all about seed—they also have a tissue culture lab where they produce what will become mother stock of vegetative plants. (One of their biggest customers is Las Limas, Ball FloraPlant’s production farm in Nicaragua.)

Not only is the view of all three farms at Linda Vista a sight to behold, but so is all of the dedication and hard work it takes to keep these operations running smoothly, providing seed for all of PanAmerican’s global markets. GT