Equal Exchange Blog ... "Fall is here!"

Equal Exchange's mission is to build long-term trade partnerships that are economically just and environmentally sound, to foster mutually beneficial relationships between farmers and consumers and to demonstrate, through our success, the contribution of worker co-operatives and Fair Trade to a more equitable, democratic and sustainable world.

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Chocolate orders no longer ship with ice

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Cooler autumn temperatures mean chocolate orders don’t need to ship with ice! Let’s celebrate chocolate grown by small-scale farmers this October for Fair Trade Month.

The conventional chocolate industry has a host of problems. Consumer demand for the inexpensive chocolate sold by the biggest brands means farmers are paid rock-bottom prices – they don’t take home enough to cover their costs of production. That’s a huge issue, especially in the West African countries of Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire, where most of the world’s chocolate is grown. The pressure of an unfair system leads to cascading environmental and labor abuses. Every year, people clear-cut forests to increase the land on which they can grow cacao, devastating the natural environment. Workers often aren’t paid fairly. Even more troubling, harmful child labor and human trafficking have been documented by journalists on West African cacao plantations.

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But there’s another model – the one we’ve built together over decades. Equal Exchange has long-term relationships with cacao suppliers in Latin America, visionary groups of small-scale farmers who own their land and grow organic cacao on biologically diverse plots. We pay a fair price for their crop, and support their work to mitigate climate change, increase the participation of women and youth in farming, and other projects important in their communities. And starting last year, we’ve added two Togolese co-ops to our supply chain, proving that it’s possible to source small farmer-grown cacao from West Africa fairly.

It’s now cool enough in most parts of the country* to ship chocolate without ice packs! We hope you’ll go ahead and stock up on these delicious bars to share with friends and family. Are you a fan of the super-dark bars? Try Total Eclipse, intense but approachable at 92% cacao, and made with beans sourced from SCOOPS IKPA and SCOOPS PROCAB in Togo. Like salty-sweet flavor combos? Organic Dark Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt will satisfy your craving.

• Learn more about these PARC products here ...

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• Shop for chocolate here ...