Fair Trade Chocolate
You've probably heard of fair trade coffee and tea, and now fair trade chocolate is making its way onto the market. Fair trade is a recently developed concept that addresses the fact that too often, the people who grow and harvest crops only receive a minute amount of money for their considerable labor. With the advent of Big Agriculture, even in developed countries, choosing to farm is tantamount to admitting you prefer life without even minimal luxuries. In developing nations, many of which are situated around the equator, farmers of cacao have been living in extreme poverty while providing consumers with what is in fact a luxury food. It's not fair that our luxuries should be produced at the suffering of others: fair-minded people have started changing the rules of Big Agriculture by making it not only possible but even practical for small cacao growers to make a living farming their land.
Compelling issues addressed by fair trade chocolate are those of the price paid to farmers, the use of inorganic, toxic chemicals as fungicides and pesticides, environmental stress, the use of child labor or even slavery, and the umbrella issue of poverty. Fair trade certification means that a third, international party is overseeing the chocolate grown without child or slave labor, and for which the farmer has been paid a fair wage.
What's Fair?
And what is a "fair wage" for chocolate? In the acknowledged best organic, fair trade chocolate with a cocoa solid content of 55%, a bar that sells for around $2.75 at your local supermarket pays the farmer around 11 cents. From an ordinary chocolate bar that contains 10-20% actual cocoa solids and sells for about $1, the farmer sees somewhere between � and 1 cent. With the average, non-fair trade wages in some cocoa-growing countries ranging between $30 and $110 a year for farmers, there is a clear need for higher prices paid to growers.
Prices of Cacao Beans, Fair Trade and Organic Premiums
As of this writing, futures prices on cacao beans are $2,773.00 USD per ton. According to the International Cocoa Organization, the fair trade premium for cocoa beans is $150 a ton. The premium is tacked onto the price for non-fairly traded chocolate, and there is also a minimum set price of $1,600 USD per ton for fair trade chocolate, presumably so that when the market fluctuates steeply (as it does when bad weather ruins crops), farmers will still be able to count on a certain price for their beans. When the world market rate exceeds the set price (as it does now by over $1000!), the Fair Trade price (as set by the Fair Trade Labelling Organization) is equal to the market price plus the $150 per ton premium.
The certified organic cocoa bean premium set by the FLO is $200 a ton, and smaller organic growers can earn higher premiums still. The world market for organic, fair trade chocolate is rapidly increasing as more and more people become aware of the economic, environmental and human costs of growing this delicious food.
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How Chocolate is made