The real life effects of globalization on

Guatemalan CoffeeFarmers

By: Anna MillarInspired by: How to Succeed

at Globalization ByEl Fisgón and mark fried

Josie started working on making breakfast, which consisted of eggs, plantains and beans with a tortilla, all self produced or exchanged with nearby neighbors. Meanwhile, Miguel got his donkey ready for the steep trek up to his land where he primarily farmed coffee beans. Miguel and Josie had two young children, who were looked after by Josie while Miguel went to work on the land.

Miguel saddled his two donkeys up with food for the day, a clay canister of water, and a few small tools and went to work on his coffee trees.

The trek to his land was 45 minutes, up a winding steep path, a path that would have been difficult to identify if you didn’t know where you were going. The trees along the way were large, healthy and diverse. There was a thick undergrowth of plants beneath the trees about knee height and the large array of rodents and insects beneath, quietly making the soil more nutritious, were impossible to see.

San pedro, Guatemala when globalization was just starting: When Guatemala was colonized by Spain, Guatemala produced coffee with a lot of land and workers who worked for very low wages. In 1871 the Guatemalans revolted and kicked out the spainards. Then in 1875, in response to the financial crisis in the united states, Barrios, the President of Guatemala implemented debt slavery and forced labor to produce coffee. by 1880, coffee accounted for 90% of Guatemala’s exports.

The year was 1870 and Miguel was a coffee farmer who lived in San Pedro. Everyday Miguel and Josie woke up at sunrise to start their busy days. Located in the hilly countryside of San Pedro, 5 kilometers outside of Antigua, Guatemala, Miguel and Josie lived in a three-room house with a spacious, partially covered outdoor area. Their home was separated from others in the area by a high cement wall.

Many farmers during this time worked together as a community to efficiently farm their plots of land together, cook and make sure everyone had food, water and shelter. There was no competition during this time as goals were community focused, most of the profits from the coffee bean went to the

government, and everyones lives were

similar.

When Miguel finally arrived, it took an expert eye to identify the coffee bean plants among the thick brush of other plants.

Miguel spent the remainder of the day using a large woven bag to collect as many coffee beans as the bag could hold and his two donkeys could carry. Right before dusk, Miguel packed up and headed back home where he washed up, ate dinner and went to bed, to repeat the same process the next day. Miguel was one of the only coffee farmers in his village at the time, and in the area that harvested coffee beans. His yield was traded within the village and the surrounding areas, especially Antigua.

Miguel’s grandson

previously owed his cousin money and six

chickens for a metal roof repair on one of houses. Although he knew he still

needed to pay that back, he felt pressure from the government to add the pesticides, and owed his family friend money and a donkey in addition to what was due to his

cousin. With the decrease in land, he had no idea how he was going to pay everyone back and still manage to

feed his family.

By the 1950s, Guatemalan president jacobo Arbenz, implemented coffee Land reforms that were opposed by large plantation owners and the United fruit company, a transnational corporation that stood to lose a lot of money with the implementation of land reforms. In 1954, the United states supported a coup and overthrew the democratically elected Arbenz. arbenz had implemented land reforms that did not benefit the United States, so when arbenz was overthrown, land reforms reversed, unions disbanded and thousands of people were murdered.

By the 1950s, Miguel had passed away and his son had taken over the farm. miguel’s son and grandson had expanded the farm that they inherited from Miguel to three times the amount of land and had 2 houses abutting each other.

By the 1960s, demand for coffee was so high, Miguel’s

grandson had no choice but to sell some of the

land and invest in the newest farming technology: pesticides.

Miguel’s grandson purchased the farming

technology (a backpack of chemicals with a spray hose

attached) from a family friend in a nearby village

and saw his yields increase by almost 50%.

It was around this time that

globalization became the buzzword it is known to be today. Increased demand

for coffee internationally, in addition to pressure from the government, resulted in the number of coffee farmers

quadrupling. Although an initial increase in yields, soil degradation

quickly became evident. The soil degradation is partly attributed to

the fact that farmers became more dependent on cars and less dependent on donkeys. While this was good for the treatment of donkeys, this increased carbon

emissions, costs for farmers and soil

degradation through increasing soil

erosion.

San pedro, Guatemala after globalization was in full effect: The civil war in Guatemala from 1962- 1996 occurred because of inequalities in wealth and racism. In the 1960s, the green revolution spread internationally and farmers that originally farmed 100% naturally, started using synthetic pesticides which boosted yields by up to 70%. In order to pick all of the coffee beans, farmers were dependent on seasonal migration.

During the civil war, everyone’s life was at risk, so

Miguel’s grandson kept his children safe at home and out of school.

Situations such as these that prioritize coffee farming and not education

oppress future generations and make it more likely that they will be

trapped in the same system within globalization.

By 1970 Pesticides were the only form of

pest management miguel’s grandson was using. In addition, money

became the only form of currency, making

community exchanges obsolete.

Unfortunately, labor relations in regards to coffee production in guatemala have not changed in a century. In 1997, coffee per pound was $1.79. By 2006, that price had dropped to $0.80 per pound, in part due to the increased presence of coffee beans grown in Vietnam on the global market. Furthermore, during this time, fair trade was created requiring growers interested in making more money, to democratically run cooperatives, for cooperatives to have independent inspections, and to use sustainable methods of agriculture, all of which were intended to increase the profits of the growers.

Although the discourse of globalization implied that

everyone from the bottom up benefitted from the economic system, that was far from the case and

miguel’s grandson saw little if any of the profits from the

coffee sold abroad.

Coffee production in Guatemala has always been

dependent on seasonal migrants and because of the high rates of poverty, the

migrants were dependent on the harvesting of the coffee bean.

Unfortunately, migrants only made 1/3 of the money they needed to survive the entire year During harvest season, making them the most likely

to be living in extreme poverty.

Increased tourism in Antigua, Guatemala allowed miguel’s

great-grandson the opportunity to travel and educate tourists

about coffee production and the

impact of purchasing fair trade coffee.

“As Green As it Gets” taught

miguel’s great grandson and his friends and family the importance of

legally binding agreements, how to

eliminate the middleman to maximize profits, how to harvest the

coffee bean sustainably and they even worked to build a school for their

children to attend.

Coffee has been drank for centuries, arguably one of the first commodities traded internationally. It is no surprise that coffee is currently the 2nd most traded commodity in the world. The coffee market profits average $60 billion a year, however less than 10% of that ends up in the country the coffee originated from. Guatemala has an ideal climate to produce coffee and coffee produced there is considered high class. NGO’s such as “As Green as it gets” have stepped up and created cooperatives for farmers in cities such as san pedro. Although ngos such as “as green as it gets” provides farmers with the opportunity to live above poverty levels, is “as green as it gets” simply helping the short term problem and not addressing the long term problem?

Although miguel’s great-

grandson’s tours attempted to decrease the inequalities in

profits earned from coffee, the bigger picture of globalized coffee production had yet to be understood by Guatemalan coffee farmers or

consumers internationally. In addition, the time spent with the tourists detracted from time that could

have been spent more efficiently farming the

coffee bean.

Miguel’s great grandson had seen the hardship his father and

grandfather faced when they sought a way to decrease the

inequalities in the horizontal and vertical integration systems, to get

out of the vicious cycle of oppression. After seeing little

change from the tourists and fair trade, he turned to a new NGO, “As Green As it Gets”. Together with

a few of his neighbors, miguel’s grandson finally

had hope for change.

In 2004, coffee production reached the highest price per pound in history, however that price fell by 1/3 in less than 4 years. Farmers who were earning $3.00 a day were all of the sudden earning $2.00, forcing many of them into extreme poverty. USAID estimates that during this time, 56% of guatemalans lived in poverty and 20% lived in extreme poverty. In 2004, over 1/2 of the coffee produced in guatemala was being exported to the United states, but coffee farmers saw very little of these sales. USDA Organic certification allowed farmers to make more money, but obtaining a usda certification cost money and the paperwork was hard to navigate.

By the time miguel’s great great grandson was supposed to take over the

farm, he wanted nothing to do with it. He wanted a larger

piece of the pie in this globalizing world so he

travelled to Guatemala City to find other work.

Miguel’s great great grandson’s decision to

migrate for work proved to be very stressful for the

rest of the family. He spent two hours commuting each way every day from San Pedro into Guatemala City and although he made more money than farming coffee beans, he was missing out on time at

home with his family.

Miguel’s great great grandson’s concerns quickly

transitioned from farm yield, taking care of his

family and the animals, to his new friends, the newest

technology and how he could make more money. Miguel’s great great grandson’s disregard for the community he came from was representative of the broader

disregard men his age were developing for their culture

across Guatemala.

While fair trade has an admiral intent, the improvements made within the guatemalan communities have been minimal because there is little education about inequalities where the coffee is coming from in the countries purchasing the coffee. The largest concern for the consumer is the cost of the coffee.

Many of his friends purchased iPhone 3’s because they saw them on TV, however they had no

use for them as there was no cell service where they were from and they were lucky to have

consistent electricity a few hours every day.

When in Guatemala City, Miguel’s great

great grandson had the opportunity

to watch TV, enlightening him to

the media’s portrayal of the western world

and world events.

It didn’t take long for miguel’s great great grandson to realize that his efforts to get away from globalization by moving off the farm to a factory were unsuccessful. working in a factory was farm worse than being on the farm with his family so he quickly returned.

in addition to the changes in prices and production techniques (increased chemical use), a fungus known as the coffee rust has rapidly spread throughout latin america. Since 2012, the coffee rust has caused more than $1 billion dollars in economic damages in Latin America and decreased total coffee production by 25% between 2011 and 2013 and another 19% in 2014. The USAID responded by working with Starbucks, keurig, cooperative coffees and root capital to provide $23 million worth of aid to 40,000 farmers.

The transnational corporations

responding to the coffee crisis are multibillion dollar

corporate businesses legally exploiting

Guatemalan resources with little regard for the

Guatemalan farmers. Would most Guatemalan farmers, including Miguel’s family, be living in such poverty if these corporations shared their wealth?

Many researchers

argue that without pressure from transnational

corporations to increase yields,

Guatemalan farmers would have never

adapted the use of pesticides and the coffee rust would

have never developed. At what point are the

“newest” advancements

hurting more than they are helping?

Too frequently, consumers in

western countries are unaware of the production process especially vertical

and horizontal integration.

From Miguel all the way to his great great grandson,

Miguel’s family has approached globalization with what cindi katz

defines as resilience and Matthew Spark defines as resilience and resistance. they have made small changes along the way to maintain their lives while also adapting to

the requirements of globalization.

Now with his own son, Miguel’s great great grandson works hard to better his community while continuing to adapt to the demands of globalization in hopes of bettering the future for his son.

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