A historiographical essay is an essay that analyzes how a single historical subject or issue is dealt with by a number of authors.

For this essay, I created an outline in order to organize all my notes and ideas clearly.

Introduction:

Introduce the topic of coffee and how coffee began in order to attract audiences/readers.

Discuss details regarding the tales of coffee. For example, the oldest legend of coffee which was the Mohammed story and the most popular one regarding the goat gatherer Kaldi story.

Discuss the origins of Coffee beans 

There’s not a clear indication of where Coffee bean is exactly originated from but many believed it was from Ethiopia since the first coffee plant appeared there in AD 850.

Discuss the importance of coffee beans on Mexico’s economy 

(The Mexican Coffee Crisis)

Body Paragraphs:

• Explain the situation regarding the coffee crisis and how the crisis affects the economy. 

For example, page 22 discusses the downfall of the coffee crisis including the company INMECAFE’s influence on the crisis.

In 1989 President Carlos Salinas informed the Mexican State on ceasing the control of the coffee market to the adjustment policies… continuing on

• Include Costa Rica’s response to the Mexican Crisis

Add evidence, and include details on how it connects to the Mexican Crisis

Also, include how Costa Rica was able to avoid the situation? Or include strategies on ways they were able to avoid the situation. 

The Final Essay

Coffee being one of the most typical breakfast drink has massively developed over the years. There have been multiple tales surrounding coffee’s origin/discovery. Such tales include the story of Mohammed and Kaldi’s goats of how coffee was discovered. However, there’s not a clear indication of where coffee beans are exactly originated from but many believed it was from Ethiopia since the first coffee plant appeared around 850 AD (Smith, 1985). The discovery of coffee has led to many benefits and downfalls. For instance, coffee has led to many trades among different areas of the world, including corporations opening up due to consumers’ demand for coffee back in the 1900s. Because of this, coffee became well-known in the market. Although there are economic benefits to coffee, there is also an issue surrounding the downfall of coffee in Mexico. 

Around the 1980s, many coffee producers experienced a major downfall of prices within the coffee industry. The prices were decreasing thus resulting in the lack of regulation of the coffee industry and overproduction, eventually around the early 1990s, many saw the dismantling of the Instituto Mexicano del Cafe (Renard). This action proves that the “Instituto Mexican del Cafe,” realized that the decreasing prices led to small markets making less profit and more overproduction of coffee. Because of this, many who worked in the coffee industry ended up fired. In addition, Renard mentions that around the first year of President Carlos Salinas de Gotari informed citizens of Mexico that the state will be relinquishing the authority of the coffee market in order to agree with the adjustment policies. This evidence proves that the coffee market had to loosen restrictions over their control of the market in order to align with the policies concerning coffee prices. Eventually, many qualified technicians were fired resulting in human resources becoming waste in the industry. Many producers felt overwhelmed which found themselves inoperative in this situation. 

Around the Southern states region, many of the nation’s main coffee farmers depend on 52% of their economic benefits on coffee production and 66% of coffee is usually grown by small producers who own less than 10 acres of land (Renard). This evidence supports the idea of small coffee growers dedicating their fields for coffee beans in order to make a living, because of the laws regarding relinquishing the control of coffee a lot of farmers tend to become less motivated in their fields of coffee production. In addition to less care of coffee beans, Renard also implies that production costs are estimated at around $1 per pound, but in 2002 the price per pound became $0.41 thus, leading to a coffee crisis. Around 2001, the Mexican Council of Coffee detected their loss of production at about $300 million dollars. Renard included that, “the National Coordination of Coffee Grower Organizations estimates that producers have lost 65% of their income since 1989…Between 1989 and 1995, the coffee sector had negative growth of -6.6%.” This evidence demonstrates that the negative growth affected coffee growers of ceasing to invest in pest control along with fertilizers for their fields since they were barely making enough money. A lot of farmers eventually gave up their involvement with coffee, which led to poor quality of coffee and disrepute for Mexican coffee. 

Although the downfall of coffee created a major problem in Mexico, Costa Rica’s response to the coffee crisis has left them with lesser issues regarding coffee production. According to Samper, a lot of Costa Rica’s strategies were based on their adjustment to the structural changes of farmers’ processing firms and those who were aware of the situation happening. For example, the production prices for coffee have decreased over time but farmers have not shifted their focus since prices can improve again. This example demonstrates that many coffee growers in Costa Rica were confident in coffee production although the prices are not as superior compared to past production. In addition, one reaction to the crisis was the tax reductions on poor quality coffee shipments which increased the proportion shipped abroad greatly and helped decrease the average price of exports (Sampers). This evidence proves that Costa Rica decided to reduce the coffee shipments thus increasing the proportion that’s being shipped aboard in order to decrease the cost of exports in order to save more money on exporting multiple goods. Around the following years of the 1920s, production and export capacity increase overtime in the years and Costa Rica’s coffee industry was able to recover from the short-term situations. Also, production in Costa Rica was able to thrive due to advanced farming methods including settlements around the mountainous areas (Sampers). This evidence helps provide cushion for Costa Rica’s production since these methods influence the quality growth of coffee beans, therefore consumers would demand more. Some methods include the harvesting of ripe fruit, the improvement of processing mills, advanced storage and transportation and lastly the classification of beans by grade. Around the time period of the mid-1970s and early 1990s, the production and exports of coffee accelerated along with volumes becoming doubled. This was due to the widespread increase of technological advances around the mid-1980s in Costa Rica. There was also high labor productivity due to the increased demand for coffee goods (Sampers). This evidence demonstrates the use and improvement of technology advancements in Costa Rica over the years. In addition to Costa Rica’s improvements to the coffee economy, the production area for coffee beans increased from 80,000 hectares in the mid-1970s to more than 100,000 hectares in the early 1990s. Although there was an increase in acres, the land at which the coffee was produced can affect the quality of the coffee. For example, the farmers in the higher slope regions are able to produce premium quality coffee beans while farmers in the lower slope focused on cost reduction and volume (Sampers). The reaction of Costa Rican coffee farmers to the crises helped them reduce the effect of market price decline as they were able to accept and learn methods to strengthen the problems. In addition to methods of improving production costs, Costa Rica promoted the activeness of coffee production and supported the rights of small farmers (Sick, 2008). For example, Costa Rica provided social investment in health care and education. This evidence demonstrates that Costa Rica also provides benefits for small farmers considering how the coffee costs have been declining, therefore these benefits can save them a lot of money.

Although Costa Rica’s coffee farmers had a positive outlook on the market decline, many living in Mexico had a hard time adapting to the situation thus leading them to immigrate to the Americas for an easier lifestyle. For example in a youtube video titled, “Coffee Crisis Forces Farmers to Leave their Country/Olga Alvardo came back to Honduras,” discusses the hardship experience of Olga Alvardo’s endurance of the coffee crisis. Olga discusses the issues surrounding her experience of immigrating to the United States. Since Olga had a son, she believed it was right for him to live through better economic conditions rather than becoming homeless. Because of this, Olga traveled 8 long days to the Americas to live a better lifestyle. Along with the travel, Olga describes the journal as a struggle since resources were limited and many were not able to survive the long traveling distance from Mexico to the Americas. Once Olga reached the Americas, her first couple of days were difficult since she did not know how to communicate with others. Eventually, Olga started working 8 hours a day at her two jobs. Her routine mostly consisted of waking up, then going to work and going back to bed. She consistently does this, which allowed her to save enough money and after 6 months she paid off her debt. In the end, Olga was able to save enough money after 8 years to be able to purchase her own 12 acres of land. 

In conclusion, the coffee crisis led to many coffee farmers in economic disbelief due to the amount of pressure the market prices reflect. Although Costa Rica’s response to the coffee crisis was positive since they were able to find many strategies and technological advances to improve the price. However, many coffee farmers were not able to surpass these downfall leading them to immigrate to other parts of the country or eventually giving up their hope on the coffee economy. Therefore, coffee does have a negative effect in Mexico considering how many end up losing their passion for producing and selling coffee.