Doctoral Dissertation Research: Coffee Farming, Drought, and the Effects of Eco-Certification on Farmer Resilience

这一博士论文研究项目将分析治理结构，如生态认证计划和合作社，如何影响咖啡种植者对环境压力的反应。咖啡种植目前支撑着全球数百万人的生计。然而，这种作物对温度和降水条件非常敏感。随着降水和温度制度的变化预计将改变世界上适宜的咖啡产区，生态认证计划一直在扩大其在生产者和消费者中的覆盖范围。尽管来自生态认证项目的建议表明，它们可以提高农民对冲击的韧性，但人们对生态认证和农民韧性之间的实际相互作用知之甚少。最近一个主要咖啡产区的严重干旱影响了经过认证和未经认证的农民，这为调查生态认证是否以及如何减轻咖啡种植者的严重环境压力提供了机会。该项目将评估认证计划如何实现提高农民复原力的目标，这可以帮助美国消费者了解认证产品的价值。此外，这项研究旨在帮助当地咖啡合作社的成员确定发展复原力的最佳做法。作为博士论文研究改进奖，这项研究将为学生建立研究生涯提供支持。这项研究试图刻画在环境压力时期，参与生态认证计划如何影响农民的结果，同时考虑到生产实践、农民概况和地理差异之间的选择和限制。这位博士生将把她的论文项目集中在更好地理解(1)导致采用气候智能农业做法的过程；(2)这些做法是否足以在干旱条件下对农民的生计产生积极影响；以及(3)制定谁采用气候智能农业做法的概况。学生将评估在八年时间内生产的咖啡的质量记录，以及随着时间的推移，质量与参与认证计划的关系。学生还将对农民进行半结构化访谈，了解他们对环境风险、认证和不同的管理实践如何影响其生产系统的看法，并对其进行分析。最后，学生将评估研究地区农民参与认证计划和合作社的不断变化的动机，并评估这些因素如何影响农场管理实践。这项研究将通过调查巴西的一个案例研究来解决这些问题。巴西是全球最大的咖啡供应国，也是美国咖啡进口的主要来源地之一，但该项目的发现将适用于其他地区和大宗商品。

This doctoral dissertation research project will analyze how governance structures, such as eco-certification programs and cooperatives, impact coffee farmers' responses to environmental stress. Coffee farming currently supports the livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. Yet, the crop is very sensitive to temperature and precipitation conditions. As changes in both precipitation and temperature regimes are projected to alter the suitable coffee-producing regions in the world, eco-certification programs have been expanding their reach among producers and consumers alike. Despite suggestions from eco-certification programs that they can enhance farmer resilience to shocks, little is known about the actual interaction between eco-certification and farmer resilience. A recent severe drought in a major coffee producing region affected both certified and non-certified farmers and offers an opportunity to investigate if and how eco-certification may mitigate the experience of severe environmental stress among coffee farmers. This project will evaluate how certification programs are achieving their objectives of enhancing farmer resilience, which can help inform American consumers on the value of certified products. Additionally, the research aims to assist members of local coffee cooperatives to identify best practices for developing resilience. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this research will provide support to enable a student to establish a research career. This study seeks to characterize how participation in eco-certification programs may influence farmer outcomes during periods of environmental stress, while taking into consideration choices and constraints among production practices, farmer profiles, and geographic variation. The doctoral student will focus her dissertation project on a better understanding of (1) the processes that lead to the adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices; (2) the sufficiency of those practices to positively impact farmer livelihoods during drought conditions; and (3) the development of a profile of who adopts climate-smart agricultural practices. The student will evaluate records on the quality of coffee produced over an eight-year period, and how quality relates to participation in certification programs over time. The student will also conduct and then analyze semi-structured interviews with farmers on their perceptions of how environmental risk, certification, and varying management practices influence their production systems. Lastly, the student will evaluate the changing incentives for farmers to participate in certification programs and cooperatives in the study region, and assess how these factors influence farm management practices. This study will address these questions by investigating a case study in Brazil, the largest supplier of coffee globally, and one of the leading sources of U.S. coffee imports, but the project's findings will be applicable to other regions and commodities.