A recent guest column in the Daily Kent Stater complained about a proposed ordinance in San Francisco that would prohibit the sale of coffee obtained under unfair conditions. The author felt that the ordinance was pointless and unnecessary.

"Repeat after me," he said. "It's only coffee!"

How wrong he was! Next to oil, coffee is the most heavily traded commodity in the world. Millions of small farmers around the world grow coffee, especially in Latin America. The fruits of their labor are often gobbled up by a horde of traders, bankers and middlemen that make hefty profits by buying coffee at artificially low prices -- too low to afford the farmers a decent standard of living. If a farmer won't sell at that price, the businessmen find someone else who will. In effect, this system pits coffee farmers in competition against each other, plunging the price lower and lower. Since coffee farming is such a widespread occupation, this process has a huge negative impact on the economies of some of the poorest regions in the world.

To combat this problem, a group called Equal Exchange was formed in 1986. Equal Exchange buys coffee directly from farmer cooperatives, circumventing the chain of money-grubbing middlemen. They pay farmers a fair price, which is certified by independent advocacy groups, and then the coffee is marketed to socially conscious consumers via the "Fair Trade Certified" label on the bag.

Since 1986, Equal Exchange and other fair trade advocates have accomplished great things. They have given poor and indigenous farmers throughout Latin America an opportunity to build sustainable communities. Instead of depending on charity, democratic farming cooperatives work their way to economic security. With proceeds from coffee sold to Equal Exchange, farmers have financed a cooperatively owned coffee processing plant in El Salvador, community stores in Colombia, the training of doctors and nurses in Mexico, reforestation programs in Costa Rica, new schools in Peru and much more. These projects are created by local farm communities and control of them stays in the community.

As the market for fair trade coffee grows, more and more farmers will be able to participate in programs like Equal Exchange. The fair trade concept is a model for change. It is already being applied to other industries. In fact, Kent State and the Coalition for a Humane And New Global Economy (CHANGE) (a group I belong to), are currently working with Equal Exchange to produce a line of fairly made "sweat-free" clothing with the KSU logo.

For now though, coffee remains the most promising fair trade product. Activists have recently pressured several major coffee companies into offering fair trade alternatives along with their regular brands. Now some communities in the U.S. are making their cities exclusive fair trade zones, where only certified fair trade coffee can be sold. San Francisco is considering such a proposal right now.

If you want to buy sair coffee, you can purchase it at Kent Natural Foods Co-op on Main and Water streets. Additionally, you can come to meetings of CHANGE, Mondays at 6:00 PM in Rm. 302, if you want to become more involved in the fair trade movement.

In closing, I'd like to send a message to the author of the anti-fair trade column: Repeat after me, "It's NOT only coffee!"

E-mail: mpesa@kent.edu

Mike Pesa is a junior history major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater.