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.

你可曾想過你最喜欢的巧克力糖果从哪里来？巧克力来自可可豆，可可树生长在温暖的热带地区——西非、印度尼西亚、马来西亚、墨西哥和南美。谁吃过生长于这些地区的可可做成的美味巧克力？大量的巧克力销往欧洲和北美。这或许听起来像一个熟悉的故事——发展中国家生产廉价的原材料用于制造并且最终以成品销往发达国家。通常巧克力的生产过程就是这样。大型巧克力公司以低价收购可可豆，然后生产出可可和巧克力商品，以相对较高的价格出售。

但是熟悉的故事有了新的篇章。从上世纪八十年代开始，一些消费者得知可可农民生活困难且不安定。农民根据世界市场情况靠农作物赚钱。可可市场价格有时候太低以至于农民收到的价钱比农作物成本低。为此欧洲和美国的大量消费者成立了公平贸易组织，以确保农民的可可、咖啡和茶将获得公平一致的价格。

公平贸易组织以高于市场的价格购买农民们的可可豆和其它商品以帮助他们，而不用经过中间商如出口商。公平贸易组织还鼓励发展那些对环境和农民无害的农耕科技，例如，种植可可时雨林的范围内不使用化学杀虫剂和化肥。一个名为“公平交易”的组织帮助农民建立农业合作社，他们可以共享资源、共同完成项目，如社区学校。另一个国际公平贸易标价组织（FLO）则确保带标价的产品达到标准从改善农民和生产商生活。

公平贸易带来了好结果。有些农民生活标准提高了，有组织地生产出更好的巧克力棒，这让消费者买起来不用再内疚了。虽然公平贸易的巧克力比其他巧克力贵，只占据了巧克力销售的百分之一，但是公平交易的理念迅速传播开来。你也许很快就会在喜欢的商店里看到有名巧克力旁边的公平交易巧克力了。