Coffee, Farming Families, and Fair Trade in Costa Rica: New Markets, Same Old Problems?

Abstract

Fair-trade networks have been working to temper the inequities and un- certainties facing small-scale artisans and farmers and to provide them with more secure and livable incomes. Drawing on earlier research in 1991-1993 and a brief pilot study in 2006, this research note examines farmers' perceptions of the ben- efi ts and drawbacks of production for fair trade in three coffee-producing regions in Costa Rica. While the fair-trade movement has made signifi cant headway in bring- ing social and environmental concerns to the marketplace and in providing farmers with guaranteed minimum prices for their coffee, farmers' reactions to production for fair trade indicate a number of problems that farmers and fair-trade cooperatives are facing in their efforts to reap the potential benefi ts of fair trade. As currently structured, fair-trade markets alone do not adequately address the needs of small farming families in Latin America.