Brewing Justice: Fair Trade Coffee, Sustainability, and SurvivalFair trade is a fast-growing alternative market intended to bring better prices and greater social justice to small farmers around the world. But what does a fair-trade label signify? This vivid study of coffee farmers in Mexico offers the first thorough investigation of the social, economic, and environmental benefits of fair trade. Based on extensive research in Zapotec indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Brewing Justice follows the members of the cooperative Michiza, whose organic coffee is sold on the international fair-trade market, and compares them to conventional farming families in the same region. The book carries readers into the lives of coffee-producer households and communities, offering a nuanced analysis of fair trade’s effects on everyday life and the limits of its impact. Brewing Justice paints a clear picture of the dynamics of the fair-trade market and its relationship to the global economy. Drawing on interviews with dozens of fair-trade leaders, the book also explores the movement’s fraught politics, especially the challenges posed by rapid growth and the increased role of transnational corporations. It concludes with recommendations to strengthen and protect the integrity of fair trade. This updated edition includes a substantial new chapter that assesses recent developments in both coffee-growing communities and movement politics, offering a guide to navigating the shifting landscape of fair-trade consumption. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 11 | |
2 Coffee Commodities Crisis | 36 |
3 One Region Two Markets | 58 |
Livelihoods and Labor | 93 |
5 A Sustainable Cup? Fair Trade ShadeGrown Coffee and Organic Production | 133 |
Food Security and Migration | 165 |
7 Dancing with the Devil? | 199 |
Conclusion | 259 |
Seeking Justice in a Shifting Terrain | 267 |
Acknowledgments | 327 |
Research Methods | 331 |
Notes | 349 |
| 373 | |
| 384 | |
| 391 | |
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Common terms and phrases
activists agricultural bananas beans benefits Café cash CEPCO certifiers coffee crisis coffee farmers coffee market coffee plots coffee prices coffee production coffee sales commodity consumers conventional producers cooperatives corn corporate costs coyote crops ducers economic environmental Equal Exchange export fair trade Fair Trade USA fair-trade certification fair-trade coffee fair-trade market fair-trade members fair-trade movement fair-trade organizations fair-trade prices fair-trade producers fair-trade system fair-trade-certified farm FTUSA global South harvest hectares hired labor household income Inmecafé interview kilogram label land libre Max Havelaar Mexican Mexico Michiza members migration milpa minimum price mozos neoliberal Nestlé Oaxaca City organic certification organic coffee parcels peasant percent pesos plant plantations policies premium producer groups producer organizations purchase Rainforest Alliance region retailers says seal sell small farmers small producers social standards Starbucks sumers survey tion Transfair USA transnational Tyrtania United village Yagavila and Teotlasco Zapotec