Annotated Bibliography: Fair Trade Coffee in Costa Rica

Source 1: Website http://www.cafetarrazu.com/

The website provides information about the history of Coopetarraz from the founding 50
years ago to the consolidation of various coffee farms to participate in the cooperative to the
expansion of the cooperative to not only educate farmers and help them get fair trade certified
but also their entrance into the social sector of their villages[a][b][c]. It details their current vision of
expanding their reach to more markets and making a direct connection with the consumers[d][e][f].
The website also details their certifications (they not only are fair trade certified but many of their
farmers are also part of Starbucks CAFE practices program and have the Rainforest
Alliance certification.[g][h][i] Another page on the website titled Investigacin y desarrollo
(research and development) looks at their current sustainability goals and explains how they
plan to implement certain practices in more remote villages.
Since the information is directly from the cooperative it should be accurate in terms of
their goals and how they implement them, as well as reliable in information about their
certifications and the participants in their program. It could present some bias in showing exactly
how the practices make it to each individual farmer as they want to present themselves in the
best light possible.
I expect the information on the exact practices of the cooperative to be useful, as well as
where they see fair trade going in the future. I am hoping that with further exploration of the
website I can gather more exact information as to what they do on a community level and also
to find out more about for whom[j][k][l] they produce.[m][n][o]

Source 2: Scholarly / Peer Reviewed Journal Article

Ruben, Ruerd, Ricardo Fort and Guillermo Ziga-Arias. Measuring the Impact of Fair
Trade on Development. Development in Practice, Vol. 19, No. 6 (Aug., 2009), pp. 777-788,
Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Oxfam GB. Web. 17 Oct 2016.

This article aims to[p][q][r] untangle[s][t][u] the effects on households of fair trade
practices[v][w][x] in Peru and Costa Rica, focusing specifically on banana and coffee farming in
both places. They[y][z][aa] pull information from various studies including some of their own in order
to try to measure[ab][ac][ad] the impacts [ae][af][ag]in 3 distinct categories: direct effects (production,
income, and expenditures), indirect effects (credit access, capital stocks, investment, and
attitudes toward risk), and institutional effects (bargaining power and externalities). Their
findings indicate generally positive effects[ah][ai][aj], including some that I may not have considered,
like a different method of allocating money when there is more of it or a changing in attitudes
toward certain practices. The caveat, however, is that the weight and pervasiveness of the
effects is limited at times and varied across sectors and geographic area.
In terms of reliability this article repeatedly cit[ak][al][am]es specific studies done in the past,
as well as explains in depth where they derive their interpretations which would allow[an][ao][ap] me
to easily understand and verify their information. It was also published on behalf of Oxfam, one
of the largest and most influential NGOs worldwide, which indicates that it is likely very credible,
although it may have a positive bias[aq][ar][as].
This source is extremely helpful in getting statistical measurements for the micro-scale
changes in a farmers life, especially in terms of income. It also asks me to consider aspects of
a farmers life that I may not have before considered. The challenge will be combining these
numerical interpretations with what I find in terms of the actual feeling of the people.

Source 3: Book
Sick, Deborah. Farmers of the Golden Bean: Costa Rican Households, Global Coffee,
and Fair Trade. Northern Illinois University Press, 2008.
Sicks book takes a slightly more critical look at the coffee industry of Costa Rica. She
spends the first chapters examining the economic, political, and social situation of the farmers,
paying special attention to the prevalence of cooperatives in Costa Rica. She specifically looks

at certain measurable aspects of a farmers life, such as their expenditure on social investments
and land use by communities. Sick also compares various cooperative strategies and practices
with those of larger corporations, taking special note to the treatment of the small farmer. In the
middle of the book, fair trade is introduced, wherein Sick explains the concept and intents of fair
trade, and how these practices have been introduced into small communities. Here[at][au][av] she
also looks at specific numerical measures, such as the education levels attained by these
farming communities.[aw][ax][ay]
This source was published by a university and provides numerous citations and lengthy
explanations which indicates that it should be very reliable.[az][ba][bb]
The book provides an in-depth look at the history of the Costa Rican coffee trade, which
will be useful in building my background. She also places a strong focus on the individual
household and the varied effects of the trade. Specifically, her chapters The Fate of the Family
Farmer and Fair Trade: A Way Forward will provide valuable information on the changing
environment associated with fair trade.

Source 4: Developed News Article

Charles, Dan. Coffee For A Cause: What Do Those Feel-Good Labels Deliver? NPR,
24 April 2013. Web. 17 Oct. 2016.
This article starts by taking a look at generally what kinds of certifications exist in coffee
trade, including the various fair trade certifications and the Rainforest Alliance, describing how
fair trade generally focuses on the social and economic aspects for farmers and the others take
more of an environmental stance. It then looked at a few specific cases in Costa Rica with each.
First, Luis Fernando Vasquez who runs a farm that has stopped deforestation in order to work
with their environment, earning his farm the Rainforest Alliance Certified status.[bc][bd][be] The next
example looked at Christian Mora and his cooperative, AFAORCA, a small co-op that pooled a
village of farmers resources to get themselves fair trade certified. Finally, the article focused on

one of the largest coffee cooperatives in Costa Rica, Coopetarraz, which provides help for their
local farmers in various ways and is experimenting with new methods of direct trade with
consumers. In all of the cases, the farmers received extra pay per pound of coffee because of
their certifications.
In addition to quoting directly from farmers, the article also uses information from higher
up members of the large companies and experts in the field, which allows for a presentation of a
variety of perspectives that are reliable as they are straight from the source.[bf][bg][bh]
I think that this article will be extremely helpful, not only because it provided direct
quotations from farmers about their experiences, but it also gave an entry point to other
sources. It also[bi][bj][bk] gave more background knowledge about fair trade in Costa Rica
specifically, and spoke to some of the current issues in fair trade right now, such as the
possibilities of conducting more direct trade and expanding the certifications to larger
companies.[bl][bm][bn]

[a]That is really long winded...try breaking it up a little
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[d]I would just say "with consumers"
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[g]")"?
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[j]"and for whom" would be more concise
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[m]I think you did a good job with this source. Without visiting the website, the summary seems
to fully detail their goals, though perhaps you could expand a little more on how they plan to
attain them. Your evaluate is spot on as far as I can tell although the assignment does say
"What kind of source is it: academic, popular, government, a website published by an
association, etc? (You will also state this above, usually in the first sentence.) What is the
purpose of this communication and who is the intended audience? How does it compare with
other sources in your bibliography?" so you might want to take those into consideration
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[p]Aims or tries, not both

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[s]I would avoid using "untangle" unless you're trying to separate the two things
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[v]I think "the effects of...on..." would be more clear
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[y]The authors
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[ab]to measure
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[ae]impacts of what?
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[ah]of fair trade? I feel like that might be a little ambiguous
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[ak]constantly cites, but I would probably just drop constantly. I don't think it's adding much and
it sounds a little...odd, at least to me
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[an]allows, to keep tense constant
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[aq]explain the bias as more than just positive, perhaps "a bias towards the positive impacts of
fair trade practices"
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[at]Here being the first chapters?
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[aw]Explain the context of the full book
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[az]bias?
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[bc]This sentence seems a little wonky
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[bf]Maybe break into two sentences? It's a little clunky as one.
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[bi]Too much "it also gave"
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[bl]I think you're supposed to compare your sources in the usefulness section (for all of them).
Just food for thought.

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