UN 1025 Section D 9/30/15 An Analysis of Globalization and Brazilian Coffee Producers Coffee has become a daily routine for many for millions of people throughout the world. However, it is likely that very few of these people stop to think about the more than “25 million people around the world [that] base their livelihoods on its production” (Watson and Anchinelli 2008 pp.223). In a globalizing world it is increasingly important for consumers to think about the impact that their daily consumption habits have on local producers thousands of miles away. This paper will analyze how small-scale coffee farmers in Brazil are affected at a local level by an increasingly globalizing market. To meet the global demand for coffee many farmers are encouraged …show more content…
The large global demand for coffee has resulted in the “concentration of market power in the hands of a small number of multinational commodity traders and coffee distributors” therefore farmers are likely to receive lower prices (Eakin 2006 pp.158). Fearing that multinational corporations would come to dominate the market and drive down the prices the World Fair Trade Organization saw the need for structural adjustment and has set a Fair trade minimum price to ensure that local farmers receive a premium price for their goods, and to encourage sustainable farming practices. The regulations of Fair Trade gives producers “means of improving conditions within both their household and the communities” (Sick 2008 pp.194). Fair trade offers long term contracts that provide a sense of stability for poor farmers that would otherwise have no place in a global trading market. With Fair trade certification comes an increased price for a cup of coffee, and the need for “consumers [who] wish to ensure that coffee grower receive higher prices and seek to improve the effects of coffee growing on the environment” (Aksoy 2005 pp.306). However fair trade does not help the poorest growers as it only applies to landowners and is not widely implemented in the poorest coffee-growing