Comments on: fair trade is the Linux way

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:08:57 +0000

They may have only one bar but they do have other fairtrade items.

Which of Our Products are Fairtrade?

All our Maya Gold range is Fairtrade certified (e.g. bars, hot chocolate, Easter eggs). In fact, our original 100g Maya Gold bar was the first product in the UK to be awarded the Fairtrade mark in 1994. Green & Black’s Cocoa Powder is also Fairtrade certified.

By: Wendy Jakobson

Wendy Jakobson — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 03:17:58 +0000

Just as another FYI, Green and Blacks DOES have one Fair Trade bar in their line.

Perhaps they could explain about the other 5 or six flavours of bars they have that are not?

Wendy

By: etbe

etbe — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:19:02 +0000

Soul: I’ll look out for that one. One thing I didn’t mention in this post is that it was Green and Black chocolate that I brought to the meeting in question…

Green and Black chocolate is now sold by Safeway (one of the large supermarket chains in Australia) and costs $4 for a 100g block. It’s only twice as expensive as the Cadbury branded product.

By: Soul Economy

Soul Economy — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:50:43 +0000

Cadbury owns Green & Black’s, which is a popular range of Fairtrade chocolate, now readily available in supermarkets and convenience stores.

I have to say that my favourite is the Cocolo FairTade chocolate, a premium Swiss chocolate. It is also certified by the leading organic certifier in Switzerland, and is GMO free. Cocolo has 8 flavours including Dark Mint Crisp, Almond Chocolate, Dark Bitter Sweet, Dark Orange, Chocolate Milk Hazelnut Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Dark 70% and White with Almond Crunch. Try it out!

By: Wendy Jakobson

Wendy Jakobson — Thu, 15 May 2008 19:33:59 +0000

Hi, Great posts
I too am very interested in Fair Trade Chocolate, and agree that the quality is worth the extra price.
Cadbury’s efforts, while admirable are nothing more than guaranteeing their supply chain. The factors leading to this initiative have little to nothing to do with child slavery, and much to do with the fact that the places where Cadbury’s grows their cocoa is seeing a ageing farmer base, crops yields half what they were 10 years ago and no new farmers taking their place.
This article by The Economist questions the reasons behind it. (The Economist isn’t exactly ‘left’) so that tells you something.
http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10609020.
Cadbury claims that it’s not about price for Ghanaian cocoa as it sells at 10% above the Fairtrade floor price, but about ’sustainability. Well, the fact remains that the Fairtrade floor price is just that, a floor. Fairtrade agreements pay above current world market prices, not just the floor price. So that’s a red herring. The reality is that 70% of Cadbury’s cocoa comes from Ghan, and it’s simply trying to ensure it can continue to buy it.
Another article posits that the water wells that Cadbury are building are really to assist the women of the vilage to get their water more efficiently so they can not spend so much time getting water from distant wells, therefore more time around the farm to work, thereby increasing yields.

If they were so concerned about the farmers they would have done this years ago when the world market price was half what it is now.

Wendy

By: etbe

etbe — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:26:56 +0000

Anon: That’s interesting information, but there was no mention of “Fair Trade” chocolate from Cadbury.

Also the reason I compared with Cadbury is that they appear to have the leading position in Australian chocolate sales (by observation of what people eat, by the number of paid commercials on TV, and by the shelf space at supermarkets).

http://www.cadburyschweppes.com/EN/EnvironmentSociety/Environment/commitments.htm

Their position on the environment (as described in the above URL) is a really good thing. But there is still no mention of Fair Trade (the point of this post).

Please let me know when Cadbury make Fair Trade chocolate, I’ll buy some and write a review of it.

By: anonymus

anonymus — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:30:08 +0000

I am taking a part in the End Child Slavery Campaign for the Oaktree foundation and have been researching the credibility of Australia’s leading brands. I encourage you to update your post as Cadbury chocolate is now co-operating with NGO’s and West Africa Nations to improve the overall labour standards and end illegal practices. If you would like to see the source of my information please visit
http://www.cadburyschweppes.com/EN/EnvironmentSociety/