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

A benefit to securing stable consumer relationships is that farmers will enjoy
access to credit and pre-harvest financing for investment and improvements to their
farms. A reputable coffee importer can vouch for the integrity and work ethic of a certain
cooperative of growers based on their history of stable yields and high quality.
Maintaining this relationship becomes the standard for a small-farmer collective.
Transitioning small-scale growers into this relationship built on trust and
expectations is challenging. When I began visiting Las Segovias with the CLUSA
técnicos in 2003, we were charged with the responsibility of preparing the paperwork for
a base-level small-farmer cooperative named Gáspar García. I had been residing in Santo
Domingo, conducting farm visits and reviewing farmers’ records and documentation for
organic certification. CLUSA had just begun a partnership with a financial organization
known as Finag (Financiadores a Agricultores), a subsidiary of an African-American-
owned development bank based in Baltimore, MD, which had become affiliated with
micro-lending schemes in Central America after Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
On the day the Finag agents were expected to collect loan applications in Santo
Domingo, CLUSA agents Santos Gutiérrez, Porfirio “El Profesor” Sanchez, and I set up a
makeshift office to review farmers’ loan applications. Santo Domingo has no running
water or electricity. Most of the farmers work on a collective farm of nearly 100
manzanas that is 18 km from the nearest town. They have a large-volume coffee-
processing mill left over from the days of the Sandinista-owned coffee operation, Salinas
Pinell APP.
The three of us sat at tables as farmers formed a line and waited for us to review
their cédulas (national identification cards) and fill in the various questions on the
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