This Easter is a reminder that the chocolate in your basket was grown by real people, in real soil, in real communities that have been systematically undervalued for too long. Fairtrade stands with cocoa farmers and this Easter, instead of showing you cute bunnies, we are calling on the industry to invest in the people behind the product, instead of abandoning them.

Big chocolate has spent decades underpaying the farmers who grow their ingredients. Now faced with volatile cocoa markets and climate change threats, instead of fixing that, big chocolate companies are using less cocoa in their products. Instead, they’re turning to alternatives, like low- or no-cocoa recipes and lab-developed substitutes. They claim these new methods will alleviate environmental impacts and ethical concerns, like deforestation and rampant child labor. 

But will they?

Over the past two years, cocoa prices have reached historic highs. Unpredictable weather patterns driven by climate change resulted in a global supply shortage. Because global demand remained steady, prices kept climbing. This meant that companies accustomed to raking in profits faced a new challenge: continue to buy cocoa and accept lower profit margins or find a way to keep profit margins high. 

What is synthetic chocolate?

With no end to the climate crisis in sight and other challenges in farming to consider, big chocolate companies found a way out. They innovated and reformulated until they could mimic traditional chocolate in taste and texture without actually plucking cocoa pods from the tree. Instead of purchasing cacao grown in real soil and harvested by human hands, scientists can now isolate cells from the cacao plant and feed them with nutrients in a laboratory.  The cells are fermented and then guided into different cocoa solids or cocoa butter producing cells and as they grow, the cells are eventually turned into the material to become synthetic, or lab-grown, chocolate using other artificial flavors and colorings. 

Major companies, like Barry Callebaut, Lindt, and Mondelez, are investing millions in synthetic chocolate. And it’s easy to see why: 

Companies claim that cocoa alternatives are more “ethical” because their processing skirts environmental and societal impacts long associated with cocoa, like deforestation and child labor.  

However, these assertions fail to mention the history of these challenges – deforestation and child labor – and the role that the cocoa industry has played.

Should the chocolate industry fully transition away from real cocoa, the lives of the six million people who depend on cocoa farming for their livelihoods would be completely upended. Most already live in extreme poverty and are unable to meet their basic food, housing and healthcare needs thanks to decades of underpayment and exploitation at the hands of big chocolate. The industry’s lack of investment in these farmers is precisely why issues like deforestation and child labor are so pervasive. Most farmers’ struggle to simply survive and feed their families is exactly why children are pulled into work and why they don’t have the means to invest in more sustainable farming solutions. 

“The chocolate industry needs to ask itself some hard questions about its own motivations and incentives. If they had invested in farmers what they’re currently investing in alternatives, how much more resilient would cocoa production be? How much better equipped would farmers be to adapt to climate change and be able to better plan for their futures?  Is it simply too hard for the industry to pay farmers fairly so that they can invest in the kinds of initiatives that we know work to improve productivity?” said Amanda Archila, Executive Director, Fairtrade America. “This is not to say that we don’t need multi-faceted solutions to these problems, but it feels imperative that any investments in future-proofing product portfolios should consider investments in the farmers and countries that made this industry possible.”

A move away from cocoa will not resolve poverty and related issues in these communities. A clear-eyed assessment of what the likely alternative sources of income will be for cocoa farming families and whether those are worse or better options for both people and planet is needed. No matter what, the industry has a responsibility to foster multi-stakeholder commitments that should include government, civil society, and farmers themselves to ensure they have access to the resources for sustainable livelihoods.   

“It is shameful that the chocolate industry has long relied on paying cheap prices for cocoa that have kept hardworking farmers in poverty,” said Archila. “The biggest global chocolate companies have consistently pushed back against advocacy to pay farmers more, which could meaningfully address structural issues including climate resilience and persistent child labor. Yet at the same time, these same businesses have identified tens of millions in investments in cocoa alternatives. These choices speak for themselves.”

Now, consumers have a choice. Is it more ethical to buy chocolate filled with alternatives that bypasses the environmental and societal ills caused by chocolate companies’ misconduct or is it more ethical to choose chocolate that uplifts these farming communities by balancing unfair power dynamics in international trade and requiring fairer payment? 

Fairtrade’s model leverages pricing structures that put more money in the pockets of the farmers and cooperatives who are the frontline stewards of land management in commodity production. When they have the means to meet their basic needs and can enjoy a better quality of life, they are able to send their children to school, prioritize better production practices and enrich their communities.

Companies that are serious about sustainability should prioritize fair payment to farmers and long-term contracts that allow them to access financing and make bigger, more impactful investments in their farms. The answer to solving systemic problems in the cocoa supply chain is not running away from farming communities. The answer is making sustainability a shared priority across the entire supply chain and realizing that investing in farmers is a meaningful investment in the future of a food we all love.