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This chapter discusses the relationship and interconnections among changing the livelihoods of farmers, initiatives for sustainable coffee, and the production of shade-grown coffee. It examines the advantages and opportunities for farmers and producers engaged in coffee certification and diversification programs. The role of Fair Trade and organic networks in creating awareness of biodiversity conservation, the social and environment costs of coffee systems, and the need for supporting small farmers are also discussed. The methods to increase accountability and improve the efficiency of coffee cooperatives are presented in this chapter, as are the importance of understanding the sustainability initiatives and their implications for the regulators, along with the use of land patterns for coffee cultivation.

This chapter examines the coffee crisis between agriculture, rural development, and biodiversity conservation in El Salvador with the aim of understanding the association between biodiversity friendly coffee plantation management and socio-ecological relationships. It documents household survey research which reveals that shade trees are an alternative income source for cooperatives, and highlights the importance of integrating family livelihood strategies with shade trees. Three cooperatives with similar biophysical characteristics but different land holdings and management strategies are employed to show how different characteristics of the cooperatives affect the benefits they reap from the cultivation of shade trees.

This chapter examines the issue of gender in a Maya fair trade coffee cooperative in Guatemala, with particular emphasis on women who are struggling to develop a market of their own in order to gain a modicum of financial independence through an increase in earnings. Drawing on ethnographic data gathered primarily through participant observation and qualitative interviews as part of research conducted in Guatemala between December 2001 and February 2003 and again in June 2006, the chapter considers the limitations that female cooperative members face in their attempts to develop new products, new markets, and new contacts. It first discusses the gender implications of fair trade and goes on to analyze why women want a market of their own. It then offers concrete suggestions for how fair trade could better accommodate the needs of women in agricultural communities and thus promote gender equity in certified cooperatives while improving the effectiveness of existing certification standards.

This chapter details the decrease in coffee export earnings and coffee producer cooperatives’ efforts to gain access to international networks through mobilization for organic coffee and Fair Trade. The root causes of the global coffee crisis are analyzed along with the breakdown of the International Coffee Agreement regime in 1989, which is considered to be the origin of the crisis. The chapter discusses the use of product differentiation strategies by café chains to decommoditize their coffee brand and charge premium prices, leading to retail coffee price stability. Conditions for attaining sustainable coffee agro-ecosystems are explored, along with the sustainability of production technologies. Contradictions and paradoxes in the organic coffee certification process are discussed, along with global regulations of organic and social certification standards for coffee production.