Upon browsing through the internet, I stumbled upon an article that discusses the associative corporation known as ISMAM (Indigenas de la Sierra Madre de Motozintla). This co-op integrates traditional Mayan social organization along with modern capitalist interests to provide fair trade practices for the production and manufacturing of organic coffee. "The development of ISMAM's organic strategy is analyzed as acheiving multiple goals, including improving soils and improving marketing conditions by permitting greater value-added to growers through direct access to high-value markets" (Ronald Nigh). As many people are aware, small agrarian farmers within the Latin American region often struggle to compete in the global market in regards to the production of coffee beans. Labor laws are lax and farmers/workers are unable to sustain a livable wage due to exploitation by multi-national corporations and the adverse effects of globalization. A trend of forced labor and/or unsatisfactory living and working conditions is often prevalent among large plantation coffee farms as well as small farms. ISMAM incorporates 938 Mayan famers (peoplescoffee.co) from approximately 100 rural villages in the region of Sierra Madre de Chiapas. The purpose of this co-operative was to ensure that farmers were not exploited by local mediators and that members would be guaranteed fair trade prices for coffee harvests. As a result of this co-operative's initiatives, migration of indigenous peoples and their traditional Mayan culture has decreased and farmers are able to afford to send their children to complete primary and even secondary education programs. Even though globalization has proved the Latin American region to be susceptible to exploitation and vulnerability, ISMAM provides hope that capitalist incentives along with a blend of traditional social organization has potential to succeed within the global market.
-Sophie Gardner
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