Organic Coffee: Sustainable Development by Mayan Farmers (Ohio RIS Latin America Series) [Paperback]

Maria Elena Martinez-Torres (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 2006 | Series: Ohio RIS Latin America Series (Book 45)

Despite deepening poverty and environmental degradation throughout rural Latin America, Mayan peasant farmers in Chiapas, Mexico, are creating an environmental and economic success by growing organic coffee. Organic Coffee: Sustainable Development by Mayan Farmers provides a unique and vivid insight into how this coffee is grown, harvested, processed, and marketed to consumers in the North. Maria Elena Martinez-Torres explains how Mayan farmers have capitalized on their ethnic networks to make a crucial difference in their approach to agriculture. Taking us inside Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, scene of the 1994 Zapatista uprising, she examines the anatomy of the on-going organic coffee boom and the efffects of the free-trade movement. The energy behind this phenomenon arises from very poor farmers forming cooperatives, revaluing their ethnic identity, and adding value to their land through organic farming. The result has been significant economic benefits for their families and ecological benefits for the future sustainability of agriculture in the region. Martinez-Torres explodes the myth that organic farming is less productive than chemical-based agriculture, and gives us reasons to be hopeful for indigenous peoples and peasant farmers. Organic Coffee ultimately shows how sustainable agriculture at the production end can make the coffee commodity chain into a tool for bettering lives and ecologies in poor regions of the world. ABOUT THE AUTHOR---Maria Elena Martinez-Torres is from Mexico and is Global Alternatives Associate at the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA) in Berkeley, California. She is director of Desarrollo Alternativo, AC, a non-profit organization in Mexico that works towards alternative, sustainable development practices.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Maria Elena Martinez-Torres is from Mexico and is Global Alternatives Associate at the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA) in Berkeley, California. She is director of Desarrollo Alternativo, AC, a non-profit organization in Mexico that works towards alternative, sustainable development practices.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Ohio University Press (August 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0896802477
• ISBN-13: 978-0896802476
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,763,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #22 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Agricultural Sciences > Tropical Agriculture

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-written, interesting and informative, July 19, 2006

By 

Professor (California, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Organic Coffee: Sustainable Development by Mayan Farmers (Ohio RIS Latin America Series) (Paperback)

If you ever wondered if organic farming can really be as productive as chemical farming, or if it is really better for the environment, then read this book. The author manages to include a lot of scientific data and theory, yet keep everything readable and entertaining, and it will convince you. Beyond addressing the organic farming debate, the book tells the fascinating story of how coffee is grown, and of the indigenous people who grow it. This would be an excellent text for college courses, and also for graduate seminars.