Left behind: A farmer's fate in the age of sustainable development

Globalization is eroding the livelihoods of small farmers, a significant and vulnerable class, particularly in the developing world. The cost-price squeeze stemming from trade liberalization places farmers in a race to the bottom that leads to displacement, poverty, and environmental degradation. Scholars and activists have proposed that alternative trade initiatives offer a unique opportunity to reverse this trend by harnessing the power of the markets to reward producers of goods with embedded superior cultural, environmental, and social values. Alternative trade via certification schemes have become a de facto prescription for any location where there is a need to conciliate economic interest with conservation imperatives. Partnerships among commodity production farmers, elite manufacturers and wealthy northern consumers/activists do not necessarily have win-win outcomes. Paradoxically, the partnerships of farmers with external agencies have unexpected results. These partnerships develop into dependent relationships that become unsustainable in the absence of further transfers of capital. The institutions born of these partnerships are fragile. When these fledging institutions fail, farmers are left in the same situation that they were before the partnership, with only minor improvements to show after spending considerable amounts of social and financial capital. I hypothesize that these failures are born out of a belief in a universal understanding of sustainability. A discursive emphasis on consensus, equity and mutual benefit hides the fact that what for consumers it is a matter of choice, for producers is a matter of survival. The growth in consumers’ demand for certified products creates a race for farmers to meet these standards. My findings suggest that this race generates economically perverse effects. First, producers enter into a certification treadmill. Second, the local need for economic sustainability is ignored. Third, commodity based alternative trade schemes increase the exposure of communities to global shocks. I conclude by calling for a careful reassessment of sustainable development projects that promote certification schemes. The designers and implementers of these programs must include farmers’ agenda in the planning of these programs.

Small farmer market knowledge and specialty coffee commodity chains in Western Highlands Guatemala

For producers motivated by their new status as self-employed, landowning, capitalist coffee growers, specialty coffee presents an opportunity to proactively change the way they participate in the international market. Now responsible for determining their own path, many producers have jumped at the chance to enhance the value of their product and participate in the new "fair trade" market. But recent trends in the international coffee price have led many producers to wonder why their efforts to produce a certified Fair Trade and organic product are not generating the price advantage they had anticipated. My study incorporates data collected in eighteen months of fieldwork, including more than 45 interviews with coffee producers and fair trade roasters, 90 surveys of coffee growers, and ongoing participant observation to understand how fair trade certification, as both a market system and development program, meets the expectations of the coffee growers. By comparing three coffee cooperatives that have engaged the Fair Trade system to disparate ends, the results of this investigation are three case studies that demonstrate how global processes of certification, commodity trade, market interaction, and development aid effect social and cultural change within communities. This study frames several lessons learned in terms of (1) socioeconomic impacts of fair trade, (2) characteristics associated with positive development encounters, and (3) potential for commodity producers to capture value further along their global value chain. Commodity chain comparisons indicate the Fair Trade certified cooperative receives the highest per-pound price, though these findings are complicated by costs associate with certification and producers' perceptions of an "unjust" system. Fair trade-supported projects are demonstrated as more "successful" in the eyes of recipients, though their attention to detail can just as easily result in "failure". Finally, survey results reveal just how limited is the market knowledge of producers in each cooperative, though fair trade does, in fact, provide a rare opportunity for producers to learn about consumer demand for coffee quality. Though bittersweet, the fair trade experiences described here present a learning opportunity for a wide range of audiences, from the certified to the certifiers to the concerned public and conscientious consumer.

Ph.D. student Greg Koch describe his research to the 2009 Midterm Review panel at TS/Ph-3

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Older woman blueberry farmer

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Dr. Greg Starr and Dr. Justin Cummings working on the eddy covariance and meteorological tower near TS/Ph-1

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Dr. Greg Starr and Dr. Justin Cummings working on the eddy covariance and meteorological tower near TS/Ph-1

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Left to right: Greg Koch, Kim de Mutsert, Sharon Ewe, Edward Castaneda taking a break during sampling, Shark River Slough

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the Florida Coastal Everglades Long-Term Ecological Research program under Cooperative Agreements #DBI-0620409 and #DEB-9910514. This image is made available for non-commercial or educational use only.

Use of farmer-prioritized vertisol management options for enhanced green gram and tomato production in central Kenya

Green grams (Phaseolus aures L.) and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L) are widely grown in the vertisols of the Mwea Irrigation Scheme alongside the rice fields. Green grams can fix nitrogen (biological nitrogen fixation) and are grown for its highly nutritious and curative seeds while tomatoes are grown for its fruit rich in fibres, minerals and vitamins. The two can be prepared separately or together in a variety of ways including raw salads and/or cooked/fried. They together form significant delicacies consumed with rice which is the major cash crop grown in the black cotton soils. The crops can grow well in warm conditions but tomato is fairly adaptable except under excessive humidity and temperatures that reduce yields. Socio-economic prioritization by the farming community and on-farm demonstrations of soil management options were instituted to demonstrate enhanced green gram and tomato production in vertisol soils of lower parts of Kirinyaga County (Mwea East and Mwea West districts). Drainage management was recognized by the farming community as the best option although a reduced number of farmers used drainage and furrows/ridges, manure, fertilizer and shifting options with reducing order of importance. Unavailability of labour and/or financial cost for instituting these management options were indicated as major hindrances to adopt the yield enhancing options. Labour force was contributed to mainly by the family alongside hiring (64.2%) although 28% and 5.2% respectively used hired or family labour alone. The female role in farming activities dominated while the male role was minimal especially at weeding. The youth role remained excessively insignificant and altogether absent at marketing. Despite the need for labour at earlier activities (especially when management options needed to be instituted) it was at the marketing stage that this force was directed. Soils were considered infertile by 60% but 40% indicated that their farms had adequate fertility. Analysis showed that ridging and application of farm yard manure and fertilizer improved fertility, crop growth and income considerably. Phosphate and zinc enhancement reduced alkalinity and sodicity. Green gram and tomato yields increased under ridges and farm yard manure application by 17-25% which significantly enhanced household income.

Faculty Recital by Greg Sinibaldi with Ted Poor, drums Ryan Ferreira, guitar October 6, 2016

Concert Program

Raman spectroscopy of kaolinites using different excitation wavelengths

The Raman spectra of both low- and high-defect kaolinites in the hydroxyl stretching and low-wavenumber region were obtained with excitation at three visible wavelengths of 633, 514 and 442 nm and a UV wavelength of 325 nm. The UV-excited spectra were comparable to those excited by the visible wavelengths. The Raman spectra show hydroxyl stretching bands at 3621 cm-1 attributed to the inner hydroxyl, at 3692 and 3684 cm-1 attributed to the longitudinal and transverse optic modes of the inner surface hydroxyls and at 3668 and 3653 cm-1 assigned to the out-of phase vibrations of the inner surface hydroxyls. Two bands were observed in the spectral profile at 3695 cm-1 for the high-defect kaolinite at 3698 and 3691 cm-1 and were assigned to TO/LO splitting. An increase in relative intensity of the transverse optic mode is observed with decrease in laser wavelength. The intensity of the out-of-phase vibrations at 3668 and 3653 cm-1 of the inner surface hydroxyls shows a linear relationship with the longitudinal and transverse optic modes. In the low-wavenumber region excellent correlation was found between the experimentally determined and the calculated band positions.