There is no question that trouble is brewing for millions of coffee and tea producers worldwide. Over the past decade, the playing field has shifted as international prices have crashed and buyers have laid down extensive new requirements for market access. Value Chain Struggles gets to the roots of these important issues by investigating the impact of new trading arrangements in the coffee and tea sectors on the lives of struggling growers in South India. Adopting a 'global value chain' approach - one that links production, trade and consumption - we see the net effect this restructuring is having on the people, communities and environment in this fertile region of the world. Like a caffeinated jolt, Value Chain Struggles: Institutions and Governance in the Plantation Districts of South India opens our eyes to the devastating impact of recent changes to global trading relations on rural producers in the world's developing countries.