Coffee

In the last two decades, the twin processes of liberalization and privatization
have facilitated the ‘capturing’ of key markets and assets by foreign
interests in many African countries. This is being increasingly perceived in
domestic constituencies as a loss of national ownership and has prompted
attempts by the state to defend the interests of ‘local’ firms and businesspeople.
These actions have often been portrayed in the literature as
manoeuvres that — in the guise of nationalism — are ultimately characterized
by clientelistic and rent-seeking objectives. The analysis of coffee
politics and policy in Tanzania carried out in this article challenges this
interpretation. It shows that practices affecting the perceived (il)legitimacy
of ‘foreign’ ownership of assets and control of markets constitute elements
of a ‘politics of ownership’. This politics, although often sporting anti-liberal
features, does not question the essential nature of market reforms.
Rather, it seeks to undermine the domination of ‘foreign’ interests in key
industries through the redefinition of the parameters of competition to the
advantage of local actors.

Coffee is a truly global commodity and a major foreign exchange earner in many
developing countries. The global coffee chain has changed dramatically as a result of deregulation,
new consumption patterns, and evolving corporate strategies. From a balanced contest between
producing and consuming countries within the politics of international coffee agreements, power
relations shifted to the advantage of transnational corporations. A relatively stable institutional
environment where proportions of generated income were fairly distributed between producing and
consuming countries turned into one that is more informal, unstable, and unequal. Through the
lenses of global commodity chain analysis, this paper examines how these transformations affect
developing countries and what policy instruments are available to address the emerging
imbalances.

To what extent is global economic change mediated by national-level
policies? Are global corporations adopting the same strategies in different
countries or do they address varying local circumstances in different ways? Do
governments in developing countries have any meaningful regulatory powers
left? This paper seeks to address some of these issues by examining the
dynamics of coffee-market reforms in three East African countries against
the background of recent restructuring of the global coffee-marketing chain. The
paper focuses on two relatively neglected areas of inquiry: (1) changes in the
identity, market share and organization of the actors involved in commodity
markets and their contractual/power relationships in the marketing chain; and
(2) changes in the assessment, monitoring and valuation of quality parameters
in commodity trade. The author highlights the consequences of different
trajectories of domestic market reforms and considers whether the preservation
of quality and reputation is possible in deregulated markets.

Excerpt: While buying a cup of coffee at a local café one morning, I was transported to an exotic far-off land. Immersed in the aroma of coffee brewing and surrounded by pictures of farmers picking coffee and their children smiling, I could imagine who had grown the coffee in my mug. Marketing materials littered the countertop, thanking me for buying fair trade certified coffee and telling me that I was making a difference and that fair trade works. My single cup of coffee was said to help poor farmers. One of the posters declared, “every purchase matters,” and another said I was helping end poverty “one cup at a time.” The promotional materials explained that my purchase brought me into a direct and intimate relationship with farmers as if the handle of my coffee mug was a farmer’s hand I was shaking to congratulate him or her on a job well done.
          Fair trade marketing and advocacy rely on the idea that fair trade increases connectedness between Global South producers and Global North consumers. While fair trade does reduce the number of intermediaries in the supply chain as compared to the free trade system for most commodities (Raynolds 2002; Nicholls and Opal 2005; Adams and Raisborough 2008, 1169), it also serves to reinforce racist and colonial distinctions between the poor Global South farmer and the benevolent Global North consumer. Fair trade may channel slightly more income into agricultural communities, but it fails to address the colonial and capitalist structures that produce the impoverishment of farmers on an ongoing basis.

Calcium deficiency was induced in hydroponically grown 1.5-years-old coffee plants with 12-14 pairs of leaves.
Calcium was given in the form of Ca(NO3)2: 5, 2.5, 0.1, 0.01 and 0 mM. After 71 days of Ca-treatment root and
shoot as well as total biomass were decreased by severe Ca-deficiency. However, a stronger decrease was observed
for shoot growth as revealed by the increase in the root/shoot ratio. New leaves were affected showing decreases in
the total leaf area and in Leaf Area Duration (LAD). After 91 days of deficiency, leaf protein concentration decreased
(by about 45%) in the top leaves while nitrate reductase activity (NRA) and NO3 content showed no significant
changes. Total nitrogen and mineral concentrations (P, K, Ca, Mg and Na) were also determined in leaves and
roots. With the decrease in calcium concentration in Ca-deficiency conditions, we observed concomitant increases
in the concentrations of K +, Mg 2+ and Na + in leaves (maximal changes of 32% for K +, 96% for Mg 2+ and 438%
for Na +) and in roots (108% for K +, 86% for Mg 2+ and 38% for Na+). Accordingly, the ratio between elements
changed, including the ratio N/P, showing a non-equilibrium in the balance of nutrients. Significant correlations
were obtained between Ca 2+ concentration and some photosynthetic parameters. Ca-deficiency conditions would
increase the loss of energy as expressed by the rise in qE and decrease the photochemical efficiency, which confirms
the importance of this element in the stabilization of chlorophyll and in the maintenance of good photochemical
efficiency at PS II level.

Well over 4,000 unauthorized migrants have lost their lives in the U.S.-Mexico border region since 1995. These deaths have occurred at the intersection of a dramatically strengthened U.S. boundary policing enforcement apparatus and persistent and arguably growing out-migratory pressures in Mexico and beyond. A number of the deceased have come from coffee-growing and –harvesting households and regions in Mexico and Central America, areas devastated by unstable commodity prices that reached their lowest point in a century in 2000-2001. This article explores the discursive and empirical interrelationship between a neoliberalized international coffee market, an increasingly policed U.S.-Mexico boundary, and migrant deaths. In doing so, it finds evidence to suggest that there is a causal link between the international crisis in prices received by coffee bean producers, out-migration by individuals in households and communities dependent on the coffee sector for their livelihoods, and migrant fatalities. It thus illustrates that the age of neoliberalism is one in which processes of nationalization,  liberalization, and regulation exist simultaneously in space and time, the intersection of which in a world of deep inequality sometimes produces untimely death for those on the global socio-economic margins. Finally, the article highlights the limitations of extant research on this matter and lays out an agenda for future investigation.

Fair trade coffee sales have boomed since the late 1980s, making it one of the most recognized forms of “ethical consumerism” in the world. Around the same time, exports of lower quality coffee beans from Vietnam boomed, launching Vietnam from an insignificant coffee exporter to the world’s second largest with historically unprecedented speed. These disparate projects have had significant impacts on thousands of farmers—with Vietnam’s new class of coffee producers representing three and half times the number of coffee families certified by fair trade. Northern actors, however, have given far more public and positive attention to fair trade. This article will argue that this difference does not stem from a strictly objective appraisal of the relative merits and shortcomings of each project, but from the compatibility of fair trade with “free trade” and its emotionally charged ideological fantasies. This includes unconscious beliefs and desires around individualism, voluntarism, democracy, and the affirmation of the exaggerated power of Northern consumers—as opposed to the Southern agency and complicated collective action implied by Vietnamese coffee statecraft.

This paper aims at investigating the design of a freeze-drying cycle taking into account the energy utilization efficiency. A coffee freeze-drying process is considered as case study. The analysis is focused on the primary drying, as this stage accounts for most of the energy consumption. A simplified mathematical model is used to calculate the design space of the process, with the goal to point out the operating conditions (temperature of the heating shelf and pressure in the drying chamber) that allow satisfying the constraints of the process. Experimental investigation is required to determine model parameters, namely the coefficient of heat transfer to the product, and the resistance of the dried cake to vapor flow. The same model, coupled with equations describing the dynamics of the freeze-dryer, is used to carry out the exergy analysis of the process, thus pointing out the operating conditions that allow minimizing the exergy losses and maximizing the exergy efficiency.

The bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity presented by Conilon coffee (C. Canephora) variety, produced in the Espírito Santo State, Brazil, were quantified. The light roast coffee showed the highest level of total phenols, trigonelline, caffeic and chlorogenic acids. The proanthocyanidin level was the highest for dark roast coffee, while caffeine level didn’t show significative changes for the light and middle roast coffees. All the Conilon coffee extracts showed antioxidant activity depending on bioactive compounds concentration and roasting degree. The coffee samples submitted to a light roasting degree showed the highest antioxidant activity.

Purpose – This article aims to evaluate the effect of organic coffee certification on coca cultivation, based on a survey of 496 members from coffee cooperatives located in the upper Tambopata valley
in Peru. Coca is a bush from the leaves of which cocaine is extracted.

Design/methodology/approach – The results were estimated using the propensity score matching methodology.

Findings – The results suggest that participation in organic coffee certification statistically significantly reduces the scale of coca cultivation.

Originality/value – This paper analyses a unique primary data set from a coca-growing region in Peru. The value of this paper is that the results suggest that under specific conditions, such as easonable high and stable coffee prices, organic coffee certification can be an effective element of drug-control policy in Latin America.