i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

This chapter brings the reader into the present-day context surrounding sustainable
development.
Part Two focuses on international development and the form it has taken in the
Latin American and Nicaraguan setting. This part details the current mode of sustainable
economic development in Nicaragua and assesses the ways in which farmers are adopting
organic production practices. I also document that the more affluent farmers are
benefitting to a greater extent from current trends than the poorer farmers who attract the
support in the first place do.
Chapter 4 is a discussion of the literature on international development after
World War II, especially as it relates to Nicaragua. I also detail the establishment of
coffee agriculture in the Segovias and present-day economic development efforts as a
way of explaining how the risks to campesino, small farmers are great and the chances
for economic viability are so few in this region.
In Chapter 5, I relate my observations of class and labor relations among coffee
farmers and farm laborers in San Juan del Río Coco. Through personal accounts I
describe who does what on the farm. I also provide an overview of the distinctions
between area and volume, or scale, of farm production, and how farmers of different
production scales interact. This chapter also illustrates the manner in which organic
agriculture and Fair Trade organizing help to address common issues among growers of
different classes as well as laborers on various types of farms.
Chapter 6 is a discussion of the annual coffee production cycle. I take the reader
through the steps of producing certified organic coffee. I narrate my observations of how
coffee is processed and transported once it leaves the farmer’s possession. I analyze how
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