Elinor Benami

The question motivating my dissertation work is how can public and private governance affect social and environmental outcomes among commodity agricultural producers?

To answer this question, I consider the cases of two high value perennial commodity crops (oil palm and coffee) in Brazil, an agricultural powerhouse whose actions and reactions can affect producer livelihoods and consumer prices throughout the world.

First, I consider the extent to which a public governance program – centered around an agro-ecological zoning initiative – may have influenced the footprint and pathway of oil palm development in the Eastern Legal Amazon.

Second, I evaluate the role of voluntary eco-certification in influencing behavior among medium to large scale coffee producers in Southeastern Brazil who have encountered climactic shock in the form of a multi-year drought.

In my work, I draw upon theories, tools, and frameworks from production economics and land system science in efforts to offer insight into both the effects of these governance programs and also the processes through which they influence producer outcomes. My toolkit includes GIS and satellite imagery analysis, field interviews, and econometrics.