Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Fair Trade, Sustainable Livelihoods and Ecosystems in Mexico and Central America

Diana Kennedy, culinary historian and cookbook author, explains regional Mexican cuisines to a global audience. L. Peat O'Neil interviews Kennedy and the wide-ranging discussion covers organic agriculture in Mexico, the effects of NAFTA on small farmers, rural activists and the diversity of Mexico's agricultural produce. Kennedy comments on chefs in Mexico City and contemporary Mexican cooking. Kennedy notes that progress in sustainable agriculture is slow in Mexico because of government disinterest and corruption. Kennedy discusses her many visits to the state of Oaxaca, where organic product branding as "Fair Trade organic" first was applied. Her current book project is focused on Oaxaca's regional recipes from remote areas of the state. Kennedy fosters all aspects of sustainable living. Other sources quoted include Pablo Span, a farmer-hotel owner in San Cayetano, Michoacan; and Salvador V. Garibay, a consultant with the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) based in Frick, Switzerland. Garibay works on organic agricultural projects in Mexico and Central America.

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Confronting the Coffee Crisis: Can Fair Trade, Organic, and Specialty Coffees Reduce Small-Scale Farmer Vulnerability in Northern Nicaragua?

World Development ◽

10.1016/j.worlddev.2004.10.002 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 33 (3) ◽

pp. 497-511 ◽

Cited By ~ 375

Author(s):

Christopher Bacon

Keyword(s):

Fair Trade ◽

Small Scale ◽

Coffee Crisis ◽

Small Scale Farmer

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

Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems ◽

10.1080/21683565.2014.960549 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 99-129 ◽

Cited By ~ 17

Author(s):

Nicholas Babin

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Costa Rica ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Fair Trade ◽

Coffee Crisis

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Consensus Found, Consensus Lost: Disjunctures in US Policy Toward Latin America at the Turn of the Century

Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs ◽

10.2307/166493 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 39 (1) ◽

pp. 13-31 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Howard J. Wiarda

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Latin America ◽

Central America ◽

Economic Integration ◽

Fair Trade ◽

Us Foreign Policy ◽

Turn Of The Century ◽

List Type ◽

Type Number ◽

Open Markets

After the great ideological debates of the 1970s and 1980s and the domestic “war” (there is no better term) over Central America policy, a quite remarkable consensus had emerged in the 1990s regarding United States policy in Latin America. The new consensus was surprisingly bipartisan, having been largely continuous from the Bush to the Clinton administrations and actually having its origins in the even earlier Carter and Reagan administrations. For those who remember the rancorous, divisive battles, stretching back over two decades, over such issues as human rights, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, the emergence of a consensus on US foreign policy towards Latin America was nothing short of astounding. There are three basic elements in this new consensus, usually referred to as the "Washington Consensus," all interrelated:(1)an emphasis on furthering democracy and human rights;(2)an emphasis on free (or at least “fair”) trade and economic integration; and(3)an emphasis on open markets, state downsizing, and privatization: i.e., on capitalism or neoliberalism.

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