It’s hard to imagine for some how our spending habits affect others in the world on a typical shopping day. If you buy organic or fresh produce at a local farm stand or belong to a CSA to support your local economy you understand economics 101. But not all your needs are met by your local farms, if you are fortunate to have any in your area. Simply put, Fair Trade or Direct Trade is the global answer to your local farm stand. However, it’s much more than that.
Cocoa before harvest
The Certified Fair Trade label on chocolate and other products, such as coffee, tea, sugar, vanilla and even flowers, guarantees consumers that the farmers who grew the crops are 1) paid a fair price for their harvest; 2) members of democratically organized cooperatives; and 3) have access to affordable credit. The Fair Trade price allows farmers to cover their costs of production as well as afford a decent standard of living for their families, send their children to school and invest in the quality of their farms. The Fair Trade label also guarantees environmentally friendly foods that are 85% certified organic and have the highest quality in flavor and nutritional value.
Keep in mind that organic certification is an expense to small farmers. A lot of traditionally farmed cacao is produced ‘organically’ by default since farmers are not able to afford pesticides. Neither can they afford the expense of certification to meet Western organic standards.
Direct Trade - Most chocolate makers on my site have a direct business relationship with the farmers. Partner – growers make as much as 4 times more than Fair Trade. Cooperatives and chocolate makers work together to create bean-to-bar chocolate. Imagine partnering with the source of cocoa so everyone benefits?
Free Trade is not so free! There is a dark side to the conventional economic system, where millions of people around the world are not being valued. Many people work in inhumane conditions and receive less than a livable wage and many are forced to work for no wages at all, especially children.
If Fair Trade is not available locally, ask your grocer or buy chocolates online. Buy Direct Trade or Fair Trade Chocolate, save a life.
Resource: Stop Chocolate Slavery
Resource: U.S. State Dept. 2011 report of Human Trafficking in Africa
Resource: Guide to buying Ethical Chocolates
Resource: World Cocoa Foundation
Resource: National Wildlife Federation-How sustainable chocolate helps the rain forest and Migratory Birds
Resource: The Global Poverty Project
Resource: Catholic Relief Services FairTrade
Resource: Slaves to Chocolate
Resource: How chocolate can save the planet
Put down that Whitman Sampler! There is child slavery in those bonbons!
The chocolate that’s used for those boxed bonbons and candy bars found at all retail stores are made from bulk low quality (really no quality) that is bought on the commodities trade from West Africa. 42% of the worlds cocoa beans come from the Ivory Coast were an estimated 12,000 children are forced to work on their 600,000 cocoa farms which together account for one-third of the nation’s entire economy.
These children typically come from countries such as Mali, Burkina, Faso, and Togo. Destitute 
parents in these poverty-stricken lands surrender their children to traffickers believing that they will find honest work once they arrive in Ivory Coast and then send some of their earnings home. But that’s not what happens. These children, usually 12-to-14-years-old but sometimes younger, are forced to do hard manual labor 80 to 100 hours a week. They are paid nothing, are barely fed and are beaten regularly if they do not cooperate. Most will never see their families again.
Human traffickers make about 230 euros per child. The Ivory Coast’s corrupt government has covered up this issue since cocoa is their leading export. Filmmaker U Roberto Romano’s “The Dark Side of Chocolate” documentary, went to West Africa to uncover modern day slavery. (The link above provides a peek and info of the movie)
Three major corporations – ADM, Cargill and Callebaut harvest 75% of the worlds cocoa, all have headquarters in the Ivory Coast and control the pricing that supply chocolate manufactures with their cocoa beans. Neslie headquartered in the Ivory 
cost for 50 years claim they no nothing about child slaves. Furthermore, Hershey’s refuses to disclose the source of their cocoa beans. The $13 billion U.S. chocolate industry is heavily dominated by just two firms – Hershey’s and M&M Mars – who control two-thirds of the market. Unfortunately, both of these companies fall into the category of those companies who use large amounts of Ivory Coast cocoa, and whose products are almost certainly produced in part by slavery.
M&M Mars and Hershey Foods Corp. are not alone. Other companies whose chocolate is almost certainly tainted with child slavery include: Ben & Jerry’s, Cadbury Ltd., Chocolates by Bernard Callebaut, Fowler’s Chocolate, Godiva, Guittard Chocolate Company, Kraft, See’s Candies, The Chocolate Vault, and Toblerone. While most of these companies have issued condemnations of slavery, and expressed a great deal of moral outrage that it exists in the industry, they each have acknowledged that they use Ivory Coast cocoa and so have no grounds to ensure consumers that their products are slavery-free.
In 2001, all chocolate manufactures signed an international agreement not to engage in child slavery, but there is no enforcement and the abuse continues. The same year, our Government failed to pass a rider to an agricultural bill proposing a federal system to certify and label chocolate products as “slave free”. Lobbyist for the American chocolate manufactures won that battle.
Make the effort to seek out Fair Trade or Direct Trade Chocolate makers. About a dozen are listed on my web site, buy direct from them, as I don’t have a financial interest, just want visitors make the ethical choice.
Another way to assure your chocolate purchase is slave free is to look for the Fair Trade label or Direct Trade. Also, look for organic chocolate, since it’s not produced in West Africa.
Indulging in quality hand crafted chocolate guarantees that farmers receive fair wages for their crop, sustains the rain forests and helps shed light on the unethical practices of greedy corporations.
Educate yourself further. Good sources of information include:
· Global Exchange Global Exchange.org
· The Child Labor Coalition Stop Child Labor.org
· Anti-Slavery Stop Chocolate Slavery
· Fair Trade Trans Fair USA.org
Look for this label when buying Chocolate