Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
other export commodities shows that coffee's diverse production scales
and labor systems were not unusual. For example, while it is true that
large-scale plantations dominated export banana production in Central
America during most of the twentieth century, the leading role played
by small- and medium-scale growers during the late nineteenth century
when mass markets for bananas first emerged can no longer be denied.
Furthermore, small- and medium-scale banana cultivators drove Ecua-
dor's export boom in the 1950s, and they formed the backbone of late-
twentieth-century production in the British and French Caribbean.
49
In
the case of sugar, the influx of U.S. capital in Cuba and Puerto Rico fol-
lowing 1898 created enormous centrales (mills)thatinturnstimulated
a proliferation of colonos, small-scale cane growers who sold their har-
vests under contract to sugar mills. César Ayala argues that colonos were
a crucial element in a period of mass production characterized by sub-
contracting, flexible production, and ''just-in-time'' delivery.
50
Finally,
in pre-Depression California, tens of thousands of small-scale vineyards
and orchards existed alongside the state's more familiar ''factories in the
fields.''
51
Insum,theonlyremarkableaspectofmixedproductionscalesin
export agriculture seems to be scholars' continued surprise at (re)discov-
ering their existence!
52
Butiffarmsizevariedconsiderably,thevarietiesofplantsthatfarmers
cultivated for export markets were few. The banana trade's reliance on a
single,globetrottingvarietywasnotunusual.Themassproductionofcof-
fee, citrus, grapes, and cane sugar was derived from an extremely limited
number of varieties introduced to the Americas by European colonizers
and African slaves over the course of centuries.
53
Thesecropplantshad
long histories before they became internationally traded commodities.
They comprised a wide range of plant types, including herbaceous plants
(bananas and sugarcane) from Southeast Asia, trees and vines (citrus and
grapes) from the Mediterranean, and trees (coffee) from Africa. Some of
the plants (bananas and sugar cane) originated in hot, humid lowlands
while others (citrus and grapes) came from sea-level climates with ex-
tendeddryseasons.Onlyone(coffee)thrivedinmountainousregions.Re-
gardlessoforigin,alloftheseplanttypesco-evolvedwithotherorganisms,
includingbacteria,fungi,insects,andviruses.Theintentionalexchangeof
plant materials often facilitated the accidental movement of other organ-
isms, including pathogens and herbivores, that created problems of vary-
ing severity for farmers.
For example, sugar cane cultivation in the Americas, which began
in the sixteenth century, was based on a single variety that did not ac-
