Have you ever wondered where the chocolate in your favorite candy bar comes from？ Chocolate comes from the cacao1 tree， which grows in warm， tropical2 areas of West Africa， Indonesia， Malaysia， Mexico and South America. And who eats the delicious chocolate made from the cacao grown in these places？ The majority of chocolate is consumed3 in Europe and North America. This probably sounds like a familiar story—developing countries produce cheap raw4 materials that are produced and sold as finished goods in developed countries. Generally， that is what happens with chocolate. Large chocolate companies buy cacao beans at a low price and produce cocoa and chocolate products to sell at a high price.

But the familiar story has a new chapter. Beginning in the 1980s， some consumers learned that cacao farmers were living difficult and uncertain lives. The farmers received money for their crops based on world markets， and the market price for cacao was sometimes so low that farmers received less for their crops than the crops had cost to produce. In response， groups of consumers in Europe and the United States developed “fair trade” organizations to make sure that farmers of cacao， as well as coffee and tea， would receive fair and consistent prices for their crops.

Fair trade organizations5 help farmers by buying cacao beans or other products from them directly at higherthanmarket prices without“middle men” such as exporters. Fair trade organizations also encourage farming techniques that are not harmful to the environment or to farm workers， for example， growing cacao without chemical pesticides6 or fertilizers7 in the shade of rain forest trees. One organization， Equal Exchange， helps farmers set up farming cooperatives in which they can share resources and work on projects such as community schools. Another， Fair Trade Labeling Organizations International （FLO）， guarantees that products bearing its label meet standards that improve the lives of growers and producers.

The results of fair trade are a better standard of living for some farmers and nicer chocolate bars made with organically produced cocoa that consumers dont feel guilty8 about buying. And although fair trade chocolate is somewhat more expensive than other chocolate and now makes up only 1% of chocolate sold， the fair trade idea is spreading quickly. You may soon see fair trade chocolate right next to the more famous bars in your favorite store.

你可曾想過(guò)你最喜歡的巧克力糖果從哪里來(lái)？巧克力來(lái)自可可豆，可可樹(shù)生長(zhǎng)在溫暖的熱帶地區(qū)——西非、印度尼西亞、馬來(lái)西亞、墨西哥和南美。誰(shuí)吃過(guò)生長(zhǎng)于這些地區(qū)的可可做成的美味巧克力？大量的巧克力銷(xiāo)往歐洲和北美。這或許聽(tīng)起來(lái)像一個(gè)熟悉的故事——發(fā)展中國(guó)家生產(chǎn)廉價(jià)的原材料用于制造并且最終以成品銷(xiāo)往發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家。通常巧克力的生產(chǎn)過(guò)程就是這樣。大型巧克力公司以低價(jià)收購(gòu)可可豆，然后生產(chǎn)出可可和巧克力商品，以相對(duì)較高的價(jià)格出售。

但是熟悉的故事有了新的篇章。從上世紀(jì)八十年代開(kāi)始，一些消費(fèi)者得知可可農(nóng)民生活困難且不安定。農(nóng)民根據(jù)世界市場(chǎng)情況靠農(nóng)作物賺錢(qián)?？煽墒袌?chǎng)價(jià)格有時(shí)候太低以至于農(nóng)民收到的價(jià)錢(qián)比農(nóng)作物成本低。為此歐洲和美國(guó)的大量消費(fèi)者成立了公平貿(mào)易組織，以確保農(nóng)民的可可、咖啡和茶將獲得公平一致的價(jià)格。

公平貿(mào)易組織以高于市場(chǎng)的價(jià)格購(gòu)買(mǎi)農(nóng)民們的可可豆和其它商品以幫助他們，而不用經(jīng)過(guò)中間商如出口商。公平貿(mào)易組織還鼓勵(lì)發(fā)展那些對(duì)環(huán)境和農(nóng)民無(wú)害的農(nóng)耕科技，例如，種植可可時(shí)雨林的范圍內(nèi)不使用化學(xué)殺蟲(chóng)劑和化肥。一個(gè)名為“公平交易”的組織幫助農(nóng)民建立農(nóng)業(yè)合作社，他們可以共享資源、共同完成項(xiàng)目，如社區(qū)學(xué)校。另一個(gè)國(guó)際公平貿(mào)易標(biāo)價(jià)組織（FLO）則確保帶標(biāo)價(jià)的產(chǎn)品達(dá)到標(biāo)準(zhǔn)從改善農(nóng)民和生產(chǎn)商生活。

公平貿(mào)易帶來(lái)了好結(jié)果。有些農(nóng)民生活標(biāo)準(zhǔn)提高了，有組織地生產(chǎn)出更好的巧克力棒，這讓消費(fèi)者買(mǎi)起來(lái)不用再內(nèi)疚了。雖然公平貿(mào)易的巧克力比其他巧克力貴，只占據(jù)了巧克力銷(xiāo)售的百分之一，但是公平交易的理念迅速傳播開(kāi)來(lái)。你也許很快就會(huì)在喜歡的商店里看到有名巧克力旁邊的公平交易巧克力了。