The Columbian Coffee Crisis

During the time frame of 1450-1750, the Columbian Exchange was at its height of power and influence. Many products were introduced from foreign lands, like animals such as cattle, chickens, and horse, and agriculture such as potatoes, bananas, and avocados. Diseases also became widespread and persisted to distant lands where it wreaked devastation upon the non-immunized people. One such influential product during this time period was the cacao, or more commonly known as chocolate. First discovered and used in the Americas, cacao beans quickly traveled to and became a popular treat in European lands. It was valuable in the New World and even used as a currency by the Aztecs. Only the rich and privileged

In a world where jobs are scarce and hard to come by, green living poses as a solution. Factories producing products which are declared as eco-friendly need worker (Source A). Companies like Tesla, an electric car company specializing in luxury vehicles, are constantly hiring people and providing good paying jobs. This will help raise the poverty line up and potentially solve problems like world hunger while doing so. As an average family in America can spend upwards of two thousand dollars a year on utility bills alone (Source F), these new jobs provide a way for households to afford other things and the government to focus on other matters.

I watched the video “The Coffee Go-Round” which talks about how the cost of coffee seems to be dropping and as a result this has a negative impact on coffee producing countries. One of the strategies mentioned in the video is to grow different crops, this strategy isn’t so great since many of these farmers don’t have enough money to grow different crops. Another strategy mentioned is to move out of the land and go into the city, this is a good and bad option. It’s a good option since in cities there are more jobs being offered. However, it’s not such a great option because many of these farmers have lived their whole lives on their land, and moving to the city is a drastic change especially if they have a family. Lastly, another option is fair

In fact, it is also necessary for governmental bodies to become involved in promoting localized food such as policies and labelling laws that encourage healthier eating and food re-localization. In addition, regulations to foster sustainable food production are essential. Moreover, in the movie Cuban, the Accidental Revolution, David Suzuki, introduces how the government’s vision becomes one with the farmers, that there is a possibility for the industrial food system to work together. For example, Cuban agronomists describe the benefits of crop rotation for soil health, while Cuban farmers express pleasure with the relative productivity and profitability of their ecological and somehow newly industrialized farming systems. By inventing a new way to create food and working with nature, profit is gained and diversity is generated leading the country to possess the largest national program in sustainable agriculture. With the government’s assistance, farmers learn to do more with less and growing food as a community becomes more a passion that profits. In his article, Wes Jackson also supports the idea of finding a new way to create food without technology and science. Instead of focusing mainly on the local food systems, he emphasizes that by using all the knowledge acquired from the pioneers and their cleverness, we can build domestic prairies that have high-yielding fields that are planted only once every twenty years. It is not the entire answer to the total agriculture problems, but breeding new crops from native plants selected from nature’s abundance and simulating the resettlement botanical complexity of a region should make it easier to solve many agricultural problems (40). The share to work side by side with nature may be one of the solution to establish a new sea of perennial prairie

The documentary Black Gold, is about the world coffee market and an Ethiopian fair trade cooperative. Ethiopia being the birthplace of coffee is the largest producer of coffee in the world, producing some of the highest quality of coffee beans in the world, like Harar, Yuban and Sidamo types of coffee. The significant problems pointed out in this documentary show what is wrong in the global trading system. Mainly, while most of us continue have our lattes and specialty coffees, the amount paid to the Ethiopian coffee farmers is so low that a lot of them have been forced to chop down some of their coffee fields and rely on other crops to help them survive. The Ethiopian people are malnourished; they have no clean water, no healthcare, and no schools for their families. As quoted in the film, “They are living hand to mouth”.

Not only do farm workers face appallingly low pay and working conditions, but they receive few protections from the federal government to ensure that these violations don’t occur. On the contrary, while these farm workers do face poor conditions, the industrial farm labor contractors have provided a large number of jobs for farm workers and these jobs are at least enough for these workers to survive. However, it cannot be discounted that the industrialization of agriculture has had a downward effect on labor wages and conditions for farm workers. Overall, there are two big perspectives on the issue of food industrialization: consumers and entry-level workers. Developments occurring in the growing, transport, and selling of foods within the

In the summer of 2007 an incident occurred at a Tim Hortons coffee shop in Lethbridge, Alberta that caused a national outcry among First Nations people, who demanded that all people in Canada boycott the coffee chain. This incident brought two people together who were significantly different in ethnicity, life experience, and for at least one of them, a complete lack of understanding of the other.

In the video from After the Harvest there were several lines that really resonated with me, such as how 1 in 7 people are starving or how every second of every day 14 children die of unnecessary causes, these statistics are enough to shock you however they are not often thought of since they are thought of as being not related since they are happening somewhere else. These numbers relate to coffee production since these numbers are prevalent in the areas like Central America where coffee production is dominant. “Coffee is the world's second most valuable traded commodity, behind only petroleum. There are approximately 25 million farmers and coffee workers in over 50 countries involved in producing coffee around the world. Coffee was traditionally

The food revolution paper was about how Machu Picchu is. The ruins of this ancient peruvian city sit perched eight thousandth feet above sea level on a mountain overlooking the Urubamba River. The incas did not build large pyramids to perform blood sacrifices or pursue long wars to please their god. Workers added layers of rock and clay as subsoil and from the river below them they hauled up rich dirt over steep embankment half a mile deep. In north america and of those no more than twenty varieties constitute of the total potato harvest in the contemporary united states. Without the potato the soviet union might never have become a world power

Unshaded monoculture systems dominate many coffee farms in Puebla and Chiapas. This system removes canopies and deprives coffee plants of natural barriers that tall trees provide. A major disadvantage of this method is that coffee plants are more vulnerable to pests and diseases. Therefore, more chemicals are used in order to minimize plant stresses. Particles from pesticides can travel far and contaminate soil and water or contribute to global warming. Removal of canopies also reduces biodiversity because of a decrease in habitat space. A major advantage of this system is that it is high-yield because the coffee plants have full exposure to the sun. So, more individuals are needed to work on the fields. I think that this specific consequence

Sustainable Agriculture is the main focus of globalization throughout the entire world. Sustainable Agriculture is having and producing food on a consistent basis, so that during periods of long issues food production will be able to keep the people fed. Or, on a basic level, feeding every person consistently without a dip in production. The fact that about eleven percent of the world is undernourished is staggering. 795 million people go hungry everyday. These numbers are the driving force behind the Sustainable Agriculture movement. A movement which has picked up in society and also within Christian Culture.

It takes about 1,886 miles for Mexico to US to deliver fresh bananas that grows in Mexico plantation. It would have to travel through capital city of Washington DC to get to our town. Many of the farmers makes their plantation for different kinds of fruits and vegetable as part of their agriculture living. Their everyday life of delivering goods helps them survive by earning a percentage to take care of their families. So they brings their goods to distribution companies who are willing to sell their vegetables and fruits to different trading companies. Statistic shows that number of hungry peoples soared 1 billion regardless of strong fruitages. Power over soil, seeds and food sales is ever more firmly held and farmland

Question 2: Do you agree with the finding that few consumers consider the impact of their purchase decisions on anyone or anything but themselves and their family?

This article contains information comprised from analyzing the research of fair trade coffee. This including studying four main authors and two other articles for background information. The articles examined the effects fair trade and organic coffee production methods effected local farmers. The authors focused on meeting with the local farmers and the supervisors of cooperatives. The areas that were studied consist of countries within Central America and Mexico. The articles addressed some of the concerns the farmers had in fair trade production methods vs. conventional. The authors explain both the benefits and the drawbacks of fair trade certification. In one of the articles the research of Krasnozhon, Simpson, and Block (2015) took on a different approach; as their focus was not solely on coffee nor did they personally interview any farmers. Instead their work reviewed some of the processes and regulations in free vs. fair trade. Ultimately, the authors collectively emphasize the view of fair trade should not be as a function to repair all the issues, but that it is more like the proper foundation to build on.

In a globalized economy, economic growth comes along with problematic social impacts. Market volatility directly affects coffee growers mostly from poor countries where there is a lack of certain degree of transparency by local government. This context results in new types of organization, NGOs, and consequently the change governance paradigm. NGOs, in partnership with farmers, business and government, play an active role in creating a multilateral framework to manage sustainability issues such as gender inequality, low wages, poor working condition. NGOs will help narrow the gap between producer and consumer price and protect farmers in ‘commodity-dependency’ countries from