Evaluating the Impact of Voluntary Sustainability Standards on Coffee Farmers’ Incomes and the Achievement of the Living Income Benchmark

Dionisio Ramírez-Carrera (), Ana M. López-García (), Gemma Durán-Romero () and Milagros Dones Tacero ()
Additional contact information
Dionisio Ramírez-Carrera: University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Sociales
Ana M. López-García: Instituto L.R.Klein-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales
Gemma Durán-Romero: Instituto L.R.Klein-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales
Milagros Dones Tacero: Instituto L.R.Klein-Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales

Chapter Chapter 27 in Human Resource Development for Sustainability and Social Responsibility, 2026, pp 399-415 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between Voluntary Sustainability Standards—specifically Rainforest Alliance certification—and income adequacy in the global coffee sector. Drawing on cross-sectional data from the 11 largest coffee-producing countries, the study explores whether higher levels of certified coffee production and structural characteristics, such as average certified farm size, are associated with improved wage outcomes. Using scatterplot analysis and correlation coefficients, the research examines the alignment between average coffee wages and the living income benchmark, a metric that reflects the income required to achieve a decent standard of living. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the economic impacts of sustainability certification and highlights the need for multi-dimensional strategies to ensure that sustainability initiatives translate into tangible benefits for coffee producers, particularly smallholders. The findings reveal a moderate to strong positive correlation between certified coffee production and the wage-to-living-income ratio, as well as between average certified farm size and income adequacy. However, when Brazil is excluded due to its outlier status in farm size, the relationship weakens and becomes non-linear. These results suggest that while certification and farm structure can contribute to improved livelihoods, they are not sufficient on their own. Broader institutional, policy, and market factors must also be considered.

Keywords: Coffee sector economics; Voluntary sustainability standards (VSS); Living income benchmark (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:prbchp:978-3-032-09683-8_27

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783032096838

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-032-09683-8_27

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().