Slavery and Child Labor

There has been a good deal of conversation around slavery and forced child labor in the cacao industry. Now a new revelation has come forward about the same thing in the açaí industry. It's only a matter of time before another industry that relies on 3rd world labor and markets to make their profits comes to light. 

Pollinator Chocolate has from day one, sourced it's cacao from brokers that have a proven record of ensuring that there is no slavery or forced child labor on any farm or plantation that they purchase cacao from. Pollinator Chocolate buys from three different organizations currently:

Meridian cacao

Uncommon cacao

Cacao services

Each has their structure to ensure that they are buying only high quality beans but also ensuring that their route to market is not marred by these heinous practices. For more information, spend some time with Tony, an investigative journalist who spread the light on the commodity cacao industry and their unwillingness to do anything about the systemic practices that destroys people and villages. He came out with a documentary about it a few years ago. Worth watching.

My brokers pay 3-5 times more than the commodity market, and while not ensuring a great living wage, it's is significantly better. This is one reason why my and other craft chocolate makers chocolate is so expensive. We pay our farmers better.