Blog 7, Coffee Production and Its Implications

Cristin Williams
April 3, 2011
Readings Discussed: Tucker, Sethi

Summary
This Sunday I read the Tucker and Sethi articles and skimmed the Taylor article. If I have correctly interpreted the class schedule, I believe Dr. Catherine Tucker will be be speaking with our class tomorrow, Monday April 3rd. The Tucker article was broken down into several chapters or sections, 4 of which we were required to read. They were Planting and Caring for Coffee; Harvesting, Processing and Inequality; Environmental Sustainability of Coffee Production, and Environmental Conundrums of Coffee Processing. Learning about the various processes involved with coffee production was interesting and allowed me to have a greater understanding of the social and environmental problems associated with coffee growing. I have a biology background, so I appreciate when authors like Tucker explain the science behind greater problems. Her article described the 2 different types of coffee (arabica and robusta) and what growing each type entails. I had no idea that growing coffee plants was so difficult. Granted, once you have mature plants they can provide you with beans for around 30 years, so the investment is certainly worthwhile. Taylor explains why coffee growing is so risky, due to the unpredictability of weather and the availability of labor. Also important is the distinction between largeholders and smallholders. Largeholders are larger growing operations that are 5 hectares or larger. Largeholders invest immense amounts of capital into their growing operations and generally hire a legion of low-paid laborers. Smallholders, however, are more common. They have a smaller amount of land, labor, and overall investment. Also discussed in the Tucker article was the social implications of the coffee industry on developing countries. In places like Papua New Guinea and Ethiopia, coffee production provides employment for a significant number of citizens. In other countries, new generations of coffee pickers are choosing instead to move to cities in search of better opportunities. Environmentally sustainable coffee growing is also discussed, with emphasis placed on shade vs sun growing and wet vs dry shelling.

The Sethi article, on the other hand, talks about how farmers in villages around Bandipur National Park have switched from subsistence farming to selling dung to coffee farmers. Subsistence farming was expensive and unprofitable. During non-harvest times, the villagers had to work other low paying jobs. However do to weather variations, Brazil's coffee harvest was a failure one year. This gave other coffee growing regions of the world a chance to sell their coffee for higher profits due to increased demand. These coffee farmers needed fertilizer for their crops however, and this is now the "dung trade" was started. This meant that the villagers selling dung were now raking in more profit. However, nearby forests relied on the dung for nitrogen fertilizer. Now that the dung is being exported, the forests are struggling. Nutrient cycling in the region has definitely been disrupted, and new GIS results confirm suspicions.

Compare and Contrast
An easy comparison that can be made between the two articles is that they both concern developing countries that grow coffee. Both articles also mention the environmental consequences of economic activity. People living in these developing countries are trying to do the best they can for themselves. With only a minimal level of education and low skill level, many of these people have few options. Like the family described in the Tucker article, they are essentially forced into picking coffee cherries to make a living. However the villagers in the Sethi article have found an alternative way to make a living, selling dung. The dung selling, though it may be profitable on some level, won't end up drastically advancing the families. As far as the environment is concerned, the Tucker article shows how coffee farmers have found more sustainable ways to grow coffee (shade growing). The dung collectors could find a similar technique to lessen the forest damage they are currently creating. They could maybe collect dung only from certain regions, or perhaps cycle the dung collection locations.

Reflections/Questions/Puzzles
Before reading this article, I had no idea how much was involved in coffee production. Tucker's table 11.1 shows just how many steps are involved in growing coffee. Between planting, transplanting, weeding, pruning and fertilizing, coffee growers are always busy. When I get my 4 dollar cup of coffee from Starbucks, I never take the time to realize all the time and effort that went into producing the beans. Coffee is predominantly a cash crop, as the growers can't exactly eat the coffee beans themselves. The workers spend all this time farming a crop that they will ultimately sell off to some wealthy company. It seems like a very brutal life, sleeping on wooden planks and eating tortillas for every meal. As the world becomes more globally connected, and opportunities for low-wage earners expand, who will be there to pick coffee beans? Will we remedy this problem with technology (a picking machine) or will there always be a supply of workers? Americans need their coffee just about as much as they need to use petroleum products, so it is certain that demand will be steady. Or perhaps with the expanding popularity of caffeinated beverages like 5 Hour Energy and Red Bull we will see a movement away from coffee and towards more convenient forms of "pick me up" drinks. However, my friends who are coffee drinkers swear that there is simply no replacement for a warm cup of coffee in the morning! Another question I have is this: how can I determine if the coffee I'm buying is shade grown? Is there a logo of some kind that would help me distinguish between shade grown vs open sun coffee or free trade coffee? Advertising like this would help to guide environmentally conscious consumers to sustainably grown coffee. Also I wonder what the price difference would be between shade grown and regularly grown coffee.