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to go through the Fairtrade certification process.

Another reason for chocolate makers not registering with Fairtrade is that they’re too small to pay fees to a third party for a direct transaction, said David Menkes, owner of LetterPress.

“There is no official direct trade certification, because by its very nature, there is no third party involved,” he said.

Conventional chocolate makers usually leave cacao sourcing to a broker or trading floor, whereas bean-tobar makers work directly with the farmers.

But Marika Escaravage, public relations adviser at Fairtrade Canada, said direct and fair trade can exist side by side. “There are companies that offer Fairtrade-certified chocolates in Canada that are not only involved in the fair-trade system and contributing to it, but also working directly with the farmers that are Fairtrade certified,” she said.

One larger chocolate company that is Fairtrade certified and works directly with farmers is Camino, based in Ottawa, whose chocolates are sold in more than 1,000 stores in Canada.

However, Escaravage recognizes the efforts that beanto-bar chocolate makers are making on their own.

“There are small companies starting out and for whatever reason cannot get their products certified," she said. “We do hear stories all the time of people saying, ‘If I do want to try to act ethically, I will go on the Fairtrade website and see what standards they have and make sure my relationships can live up to those standards.’ ”

Though ChocoSol is not registered with Fairtrade, Sacco relies on and supports certification.

“It’s an important stepping stone. We need to support those certifications, especially when we can’t vouch for the supply chain. That’s when those certifications are very important,” he said.

What’s more, ChocoSol relies on certification for other ingredients in its chocolates. “We buy all our sugar organic, Fairtrade and Rainforest certified,” Sacco said. “Cocoa butter (as well). All of the things we are not buying from origin, we buy certified.”

Non-certified artisanal chocolate makers have helped cooperatives such as Kokoa Kamili in Tanzania grow and acquire the financial means to become certified.

“We started to work with Kokoa Kamili a few years ago. They didn’t have any certifications at all," LetterPress’s Menkes said. “Enough of us got together and started to pay these premiums, because (Kokoa Kamili) were paying a premium to the farmers. They were able to afford organic certification, which then opens a lot more avenues for them, because there are manufacturers out there who only want to work with certified cacao.”

Taza is not Fairtrade certified, but it is organic certified and it insists that farmers get organic credentials for their production.

Jesse Last, Taza’s sourcing manger based in Colombia, noted that there’s also a benefit to the farmers.

“Because we are an organic company, the farmers need to be organic certified,” he said. “Even though it’s more work to be organic certified to sell to Taza, the fact that we are paying really good prices makes it worthwhile.”

University of Toronto professor Jennifer Sumner, whose research focuses on sustainable food systems, said being certified both organic and fair trade makes an ideal combination.

“The great strength of the organic movement is the environmental protection … and the great strength of the Fairtrade movement is its social side,” she said. “When these two movements work together and produce Fairtrade organic products, then they bolster each other’s strengths.”

Though ChocoSol and LetterPress do not have organic certifications, they say they set high environmental standards. ChocoSol has developed projects to regenerate the areas it works in, such as sharing its knowledge