Category: Farmworkers

Brazil’s Supreme Court lifts ban on “Dirty List”

Brazil’s Supreme Court has lifted its injunction on one of the most powerful and distinctive tools in the country’s campaign to eradicate slave labor, clearing the way for its reinstatement after a suspension that lasted nearly 17 months.  The “Dirty List”—a public registry of employers found by the Ministry of Labor to be employing workers […]

Incentivizing farmer-led renovation in Guatemala

A few months ago, in the offices of Anacafé in Guatemala City, the II Cumbre de la Roya was held, 2 years after the initial meeting.  The objective of the meeting was to take stock of what has happened since the first meeting and to see how the Central American coffee sector was recovering from […]

CRS Policy Brief: Slave labor in Brazilian coffee. (And what we can do about it.)

2016-04-13 Comments

When we learned in the summer of 2013 that inspectors from Brazil’s Ministry of Labor found evidence that 15 coffee farms had employed workers under what the country calls “conditions analogous to slavery,” we were shocked.  The revelation raised lots of questions: What does “slavery” mean in Brazil in 2013?  How widespread is the practice […]

The SCAA Event: Annual Coffeelands Preview

In less than one month the gavel will sound to open The SCAA Event.  That means it’s time for the annual Coffeelands preview of The Event’s best “origin content.” In my 2012 SCAA preview post, I divided my picks into three “streams of enlightenment”—“downstream” presentations that push knowledge of origin toward the marketplace, “upstream” presentations […]

Review: Danwatch exposé on slavery in Brazilian coffee

2016-03-07 Comments

Last week, the Danish human rights organization Danwatch released this hard-hitting exposé on modern slavery in Brazil’s coffee sector.  Rather than summarize its key findings, we suggest anyone interested in farm labor, the future of coffee supply, or the evolving conversation on coffee sustainability should read it in its entirety.  Instead, we offer something closer […]