Dairy Milk in Canada = Fair Trade

Global education and fair trade are my two passions, and I think that is pretty evident on this blog as they seem to be what I write about most often. Recently, I have heard about The Bicycle Factory; a program launched by Cadbury with the goal of delivering 5000 bikes to children in rural Ghana to make it easier for them to get to school.

Through looking at this website, I came across the really exciting news that Cadbury is beginning to go fair trade! Yeah!!

They have something called the Cadbury Cocoa Partnership with the cocoa farmers in Ghana, Indonesia, India, and the Caribbean. Most of their cocoa comes from Ghana, and some of the programs they have created include book collection for schools and libraries, microfinancing for cocoa farmers, bringing clean water to rural areas, and supporting teacher training.

Most recently (summer 2010), the Canadian Dairy Milk chocolate bar has received official fair trade certification. You can tell if an item is fair trade certified by the Transfair stamp on the package. I went to a few different stores this morning, and saw the fair trade Dairy Milk on their shelves. Shoppers Drug Mart even had the tiny size to sell in package for Halloween!

As outlined on the Cadbury website, the benefits of Dairy Milk going fair trade include:

• Quadrupling the sales of Fair Trade cocoa from Ghana under Fair Trade terms as a result of Cadbury’s commitment to Fair Trade across five markets, including Canada

• Will affect over 40,000 cocoa farmers and open up new opportunities for farmers to benefit from the Fair Trade system

• Assure Canadians that when they buy Fair Trade Certified Cadbury Dairy Milk – they are directly benefitting farmers and their communities

Check out the Fair Trade Dairy Milk website to see video clips and further information about how this is transforming Ghanian communities. Fair trade certified Dairy Milk bars are also available in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the UK. This blog, Cadbury Fair Trade, has much more information including FAQ's such as when the rest of Cadbury will be going fair trade, and whether the price will change.



The biggest criticism right now is that only one of Cadbury's products is fair trade. I understand this, but also think that it is incredible of Cadbury to be taking the first steps.

What are ways we can encourage other chocolate companies to go fair trade, and Cadbury to make its other products fair trade?

1) Boycott, boycott, boycott.

ONLY buy Cadbury Dairy Milk, or other fair trade certified chocolate, like Cocoa Camino. I will admit.. this will not be easy for me! I love my Reese's! But I think it's an important step to take to urge other chocolate companies to do the same.

2) The Hershey Company is lagging far behind Cadbury in terms of global development and fair treatment to its cocoa farmers. Send Hershey's a letter, letting them know what you think about this, and telling them that you are only going to buy Cadbury and Cocoa Camino fair trade products until Hershey's steps up and goes fair trade as well.

3) Send Cadbury a letter, praising them for going fair trade and letting them know how important this is.

4) Contact the stores in your area that currently do not sell fair trade Dairy Milk, and ask them to sell it in replace of another chocolate bar they currently do sell (for example, a Hershey bar). No Frill's in my neighbourhood does not sell Dairy Milk, and I will post their letter to me on the blog, if they get back to me.



Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something. ~Author Unknown