The Coffee Crisis, Fair Trade, and Agroecological Transformation: Impacts on Land-Use Change in Costa Rica

Babin, Nicholas

doi:10.1080/21683565.2014.960549

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…As an agricultural commodity, most often produced by small-scale farming families who depend on this cash-crop to insure their food security, the volatility of coffee prices has direct impacts on local livelihoods. Falls in international prices impact not only family well-being and food security (Babin 2015;Bathfield et al 2013), but also regional social-political dynamics such as migration or conflict (see Bacon et al 2017). New forms of speculation around commodity markets (such as futures contracts) have been pointed out as a source of instability in the volatile international coffee market (Galaz et al 2015).…”

Section: Law and Resilience In The Anthropocenementioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from social–ecological crisis for legal resilience building: multi-scale dynamics in the coffee rust epidemic

2019

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A recent coffee leaf rust epidemic has generated a severe fall in Coffea arabica production throughout Mexico and Central America. This paper analyzes the social-ecological crisis presented by the Hemileia vastatrix outbreak, with a focus on how global, regional and national dynamics interact with local processes in the Chiapas Sierra Madre of southeastern Mexico, a biodiversity hotspot with a tradition of smallholder, shade-grown coffee production. We explore the hypothesis that the current coffee rust epidemic is an expression of global environmental change, with implications for legal frameworks and international efforts towards risk management and climate change adaptation. Addressing debates on legal resilience building, we illustrate how mismatches of scale between social-ecological phenomena and legal and institutional arrangements may generate pathological solutions for small-scale coffee producers and shade-grown coffee ecosystems. Thereafter, using the analytical lens of modularity, the paper sheds light on landscape stewardship to reduce the risks of non-resilient characteristics such as isolation, on the one hand, and on the other, over-connectedness of habitat patches in the landscape of importance for ecosystem functions at larger scales. The interdisciplinary framework leads to recognizing the role of institutions and legal arrangements which are not limited to national boundaries in proposing solutions to this social-ecological crisis. We find that matching scales of law with agroforestry systems can be done through a variety of legal and policy instruments to contribute to resilience building. This matching of scales is vital to safeguarding biodiversity's global benefits and the right of small-scale coffee farmers to a healthy and sustainable environment.

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Section: Law and Resilience In The Anthropocenementioning

confidence: 99%

Learning from social–ecological crisis for legal resilience building: multi-scale dynamics in the coffee rust epidemic

2019

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“…Taking this conception and applying it to the case of agroecology, we explore how nature, instead of being monetised, is providing valuable inputs to farmers for free. Agroecology calls for the holistic management of the agro-ecosystem (Altieri, 1983(Altieri, , 1993(Altieri, , 2002, minimising external inputs, such as synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, producing better environmental, economic and social outcomes for farmers (Altieri, 2002(Altieri, , 2008Babin, 2015). Agroecological designs often incorporate both traditional knowledge (Altieri, 1983;Anuradha, 1998) and practices of modern agroecological science (Altieri, 2002(Altieri, , 2008, promising to deliver livelihoods for local and regional communities (Altieri and Toledo, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Agroecology accounting: biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods from the margins

Lanka¹,

Khadaroo²,

Böhm³

2017

AAAJ

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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a socio-ecological counter account of the role that agroecology plays in supporting the sustainable livelihoods of a co-operative of smallholder coffee farmers, where very little value is created at their end of the coffee commodity chain. Agroecology may be defined as the science that provides the ecological principles and concepts for the design and management of productive agricultural ecosystems that conserve natural resources. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a case study design of a coffee-producing co-operative in India using data collected from participant observation, focus groups and unstructured interviews with indigenous smallholder farmers. It combines the science of agroecology with the labour theory of value as a theoretical framework. Findings An agroecological approach supports agricultural biodiversity, while promoting sustainable livelihoods since members of the co-operative are able to reduce their use of external inputs. However, an agroecological transformation is curtailed by the continued dependence on corporate value chains. A framework using the labour theory of value is used to explain the extraction of surplus value from the labour of both the smallholder farmers as well as nature. This study provides evidence of the role of government policy and practice in perpetuating the status quo by not promoting either research on agroecology or direct consumer to producer value chains while providing subsidies for the inputs of industrial agriculture. Originality/value There have been very few studies that have provided an account of the limited value generated in agricultural commodity chains for smallholder farmers due to the need to purchase the inputs of industrial agriculture supported by government subsidies. This study extends the field of accounting for biodiversity into agriculture using the science of agroecology to explain the role played by biodiversity in increasing the amount of value generated by smallholder farmers. By utilising the labour theory of value, the authors have introduced the notion of the labour power of nature as represented by the environmental services that nature provides

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“…The next section unpacks this countervailing current of agrarian change, exploring how and why farm households pursued autonomy and made decisions about commodity relative to subsistence production in a time of crisis. 11 The coffee systems of Agua Buena harbour an important amount of tree biodiversity and contribute to landscape-level conservation (Babin, 2015).…”

Section: Why No Class Polarization? Differentiation and Dispossessimentioning

confidence: 99%

Class differentiation, deagrarianization, and repeasantization following the coffee crisis in Agua Buena, Costa Rica

Babin

2019

Journal of Agrarian Change

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This research evaluated trajectories of agrarian change following liberalization and deregulation of the coffee commodity chain, assessing the transformation of agrarian class structures and livelihoods between 2000 and 2009 among landed coffee farmers from Agua Buena, Costa Rica. Simultaneous processes of differentiation, deagrarianization, and repeasantization are documented. Deagrarianization is identified as the result of either adaptive or maladaptive processes of livelihood diversification out of agriculture. Repeasantization is characterized by the widespread adoption of low external‐input agriculture driven by cultural norms of self‐sufficiency and labour flexibility within farm households. In order to ensure equitability and the continued viability of rural households in communities ravaged by commodity deregulation, aid and training need to be targeted towards resource‐poor households in two principal areas: first, to transition off‐farm livelihoods into stable and high return activities and, second, to provide the agroecological knowledge and resources for farming households to self‐provision and distantiate themselves from the market.

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The Coffee Crisis, Fair Trade, and Agroecological Transformation: Impacts on Land-Use Change in Costa Rica

Cited by 34 publications

References 32 publications

Learning from social–ecological crisis for legal resilience building: multi-scale dynamics in the coffee rust epidemic

Learning from social–ecological crisis for legal resilience building: multi-scale dynamics in the coffee rust epidemic

Agroecology accounting: biodiversity and sustainable livelihoods from the margins

Class differentiation, deagrarianization, and repeasantization following the coffee crisis in Agua Buena, Costa Rica

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