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

Adrian González thinks peones receive better treatment when they work for small
family farms: “La comida nuestra es sana.” He claims, No viene de un comedor. Tratmos
bien a los trabajadores. En el comedor de La Gloria no les importa si aparece un ratón
en la comida. Comes lo que te den. (Our food is safe. It’s not from a cafeteria. We treat
our workers well. In [hacienda] La Gloria they don’t care of if there is a mouse in your
food. You eat what you get).” Adrian offered this opinion when we were working on his
farm in El Lechón. There was plenty of time to talk during the hour-long, uphill walk. He
told of workers who had complained to him of the poor work conditions on large farm
operations. He even claimed that people work for him because his wife, Leyla, is a good
cook and gives healthy portions.
Adrian does his own farm work with the assistance of his hombre de confianza,
Francisco, known as El Chele (The White Guy). Chele attests to the poor work conditions
and treatment at large coffee plantations. He came to San Juan from his hometown of
Wiwilí to work in coffee. Chele has a fair complexion and light eyes (thus the nickname).
He lives with Adrian’s family, sleeping at their house and eating meals with them. As
Eliazar is to Danilo, he is responsible for both domestic duties and farm labor.
I spent a lot of time working with Adrian and Chele. In the second year of my
research, Adrian hired a worker named Chico. I helped at Adrian’s parcels in El Chile
and at El Lechón a few days per week, doing seasonal farm work. Since 2003, when I
first met him, Adrian has shown signs of increasing income from his sale of organic
coffee and his membership in a growers’ cooperative. He invested in a macho (mule),
affectionately named El Doméstico, for hauling tools and coffee. He also added workers
to his team. The increase in investment will improve his yield and quality. More recently,
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