San Francisco Chronicle
October 5, 1999
By Chip Johnson

Well, if Oakland City Council member Nancy Nadel has her way, the city will buy java from suppliers who buy only from organic growers who receive a fair price for their crop.

Nadel has floated a resolution that would require the city manager to study the prospects of buying coffee that has been certified organic and fair-trade.

Her resolution is a wake-up call for social consciousness, urging people to find ways to live "that do not degrade people, animals or the environment."

It also reads like an indictment against exploitative coffee buyers who pay wages that don't cover production costs and help maintain a "cycle of poverty and debt" among growers.

It just so happens that TransFair USA, an Oakland nonprofit organization, is one of the few U.S. companies that certify organic growers and the market price they receive.

According to the resolution, current fair-trade networks include 500,000 farmers from 20 countries who sell more than 32 million pounds of coffee annually.

The council is scheduled to vote on the resolution at tonight's city council meeting.

By the way, no animals were harmed in the production of this column item.

Chip Johnson's column appears in The Chronicle on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. He can be reached at (510) 433-5984, by e-mail at johnsonch@sfgate.com, or by writing The Chronicle at 483 Ninth St., Suite 100, Oakland, CA 94607.