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

gallon bucket of coffee cherries, approximately 25 pounds. The best pickers on Danilo’s
farm picked about 12–15 latas in a day.
Several factors affect the workers’ ability to pick rapidly, including the terrain and
slope. The climate also affects one’s ability to pick diligently. A rainy day is more
difficult for harvesting, but according to Danilo the rain will cause ripe uvas to ferment
on the vine, so everyone has to work harder.
Pickers enter the field at 6:00 a.m. and work until 3:00 p.m. They tie a woven
basket around their waist and carry a woven plastic sack into which they empty the
basket. Pickers wear long sleeves, long pants, hats, and sweaters in the cold of the
morning. I was ill-prepared for my first experience picking coffee on Danilo’s farm in
January 2002; I stood on a nest of fire ants. Danilo even came to the field to see if I was
all right. He asked to see the bites on my legs.
“Eso es trabajar en una finca orgánica, no podemos envenenar a los animalitos y
por eso tenemos que aguantarlas consequencias (That’s what it’s like working on an
organic farm; we can’t poison the insects and that’s why we have to suffer the
consequences),” Danilo chuckled. He did not seem remorseful even though I was
obviously shaken up. Danilo then demonstrated how he and his workers tuck their pant
legs into their socks and boots. My outdoor outfitter clothes gave me no advantage over
the workers’ blue jeans tucked into rubber boots. This was true participant observation,
and I got a real feel for organic coffee farming that day. Many people still recall that
event; even folks I haven’t met know that story about me. Danilo’s family and I still
laugh about it to this day.
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