Marcela Vásquez-León

A comparative assessment of climate vulnerability: Agriculture and ranching on both sides of the US-Mexico border

Abstract Social science research on climate vulnerability tends to be limited to case studies in either industrial countries or in less-developed nations. The empirical study presented here takes a comparative approach across this divide by examining rural livelihoods on both sides of the United States–Mexico border. Looking beyond single agricultural systems, crossing borders and listening to rural producers in this semi-arid environment offers a more complete picture of how differences in access to resources, state involvement, class and ethnicity result in drastically different vulnerabilities within a similar biophysical context. We distinguish between coping and buffering in examining adaptation strategies and place an emphasis on the historical context of vulnerability as a dynamic social process with socioeconomic and environmental consequences.

Free Markets and Fair Trade, Collective Livelihood Struggles, and the Cooperative Model Two Case Studies from Paraguay

Two agricultural cooperatives in Paraguay illustrate different models of smallholders’ collective livelihood struggles to enter international markets and achieve autonomy. One cooperative exports organic sugar and follows a strategy based on Fair Trade, independence from state bureaucracies, and alliances with international buyers and nongovernmental organizations. The other cooperative exports bananas to Argentina and follows a strategy based on free trade, regional market liberalization, and dependence on state bureaucracies. These cooperatives operate in a context of deep structural inequalities in which elements of a 35-year dictatorship mix with more recent regional and global integration and the consolidation of a democratic project. Examination of the structure in which they operate and the individual and collective agency of small producers reveals that, whether through free trade or Fair Trade, participation in global markets requires participation in debates on globalization and democracy and the redefinition of production processes to satisfy external markets that will allow small producers to make a reasonable living.

Walking the Tightrope Latin American Agricultural Cooperatives and Small-Farmer Participation in Global Markets

Marcela Vásquez-León is an associate professor in the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, School of Anthropology, and the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona. She thanks Timothy J. Finan, the BARA graduate research assistants, and the students from the Universidad Nacional de Asunción who participated in the project on which these articles are based. The research was conducted under contract with the Agricultural Cooperative Development International and Volunteers in Overseas Cooperative Assistance as part of a project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development Cooperative Development Program. Thanks are also due to ACDI/VOCA directors in Paraguay and Brazil.