Costa+Rican+Coffee

**Lara Stoyanov**
 Costa Rica is a richly agricultural country, which is often recognized for it’s exportation of coffee. The production of coffee has altered the Costa Rican society and agriculture to great extents by directly affecting politics, lifestyle, and the economy of Costa Rica. With a population of around 4.2 million in 2003 (4), the country has drastically grown from its smaller beginnings in relation to the amount of people and commodities. The history on the exportation and cultivation of coffee is very rich in all of North America due to an era considered “the coffee century... roughly, from 1830 to 1930”(3). In Costa Rica however, the business of exporting coffee is still booming, and is currently the number [|3] export of the country. In fact, Costa Rica and other Central American countries produce the coffee which many countries purchase in mass amounts. Not surprisingly, the United States is a large consumer, having purchased [|“$159 million”] worth of unroasted coffee from Costa Rica in 2010 alone.

**HISTORY**
Prior to the production or exportation of coffee, and thus the revenue that came from it, Costa Rica was not as large on exportation, tourism or independent business. In fact, “prior to the massive expansion of coffee cultivation in the 1840s and 1850s, no viable export alternative” (1) could be found in the country. This was an obviously large challenge, which made it difficult for the people of Costa Rica to make much revenue off of exportations. Suddenly, there was “a small-scale cacao boom on the Atlantic coast from about 1650 to 1750" (1), which presented Costa Ricans with the idea of exportation to provide them with larger outside and privately owned business. This exportation alone, greatly affected their economy in short-term circumstances. This was merely a preview of what was to result from the exportation boom of coffee. Precoffee Costa Rica was one of "village exchange and extraction” (1), and when exportation was introduced, those who did not jump on the train, were quickly left behind in terms of profit and business.

**Economy**
The "coffee export economy... created the deep divisions between a privileged elite and impoverished rural masses that exploded in revolution twice in this century." (2) Essentially, the widened class distinction occurred because those who had power and money to create coffee plantations back in the mid-1800's did, and those who did not have accommodations to do so, did not. Because of this, the upper-middle class and upper-class families increased their power and wealth through the new business of exportation, whilst the middle and lower class were pushed further down the class line, by having to work in plantations for income, or chance working at something less prevalent in the economy. The class battle of the coffee elite versus the working middle-class is still prevalent today due to family lines of wealth. These large differences in social class have greatly affected the the current-day democracy of Costa Rica, largely because of their have been revolutionsstarted by the lower and middle-classes. However, the division of class is not the only thing within the economy, which coffee has affected. There has been a mass amount of income to Costa Rica and it's coffee farmers. In fact, the second most valuable exported good of developing countries is coffee. Although this is a large amount, less than [|10%] of the earnings of those exports end up directly in the pockets of coffee farmers.

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**Politics**
As the video to the left shows, the cultivation of coffee in mass amounts has created an excess amount of clear cutting, in order to make room for the growth and cultivation of coffee. The clear-cutting of Costa Rican forests has created a backlash movement of protest against mass producing companies that clear-cut. Instead of clear-cutting, those in protest have started to create more natural coffee plantations which incorporate the forests within their plantations. One of the primary reasons that this is becoming more popular is because the trees that are being cut down protect much of the water sources needed for the cultivation of coffee, and so the water and irrigation has started to dry up.

** Lifestyle **
In Costa Rica, the total trade exports earned in the year of 2010 added up to a)whopping [|$9.375 billion”] . In regards to the money, which was made by exports that year: around [|11%] was earned by the export revenues of coffee, which also employs [|"5% of the labor force."] Even by themselves, these large numbers are obvious indicators for just how large of an influence the first acts of growing coffee has had on not only Costa Rica, but all of those whom Costa Rica exports to. The business of growing and exporting coffee has produced amazing economic benefits, as well as some political and economic opposition within the country. The topic of coffee is a very difficult one to take views because it is both beneficial and detrimental to the Costa Rican society.

** Citations **
1.Gudmundson, Lowell. //Costa Rica Before Coffee: Society and Economy on the Eve of the Export Boom//. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1986. Print.

2. Paige, Jeffery M. //Coffee and Power: Revolution and the Rise of Democracy in Central America//. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1997. Print.

3. Roseberry, William, Lowell Gudmundson, and K M. Samper. //Coffee, Society, and Power in Latin America//. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995. Print.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">4. Sick, Deborah. //Farmers of the Golden Bean: Costa Rican Households, Global Coffee, and Fair Trade//. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2008. Print.