The chocolate in viral “lab-grown” videos is not lab-grown. But beneath the misinformation lies a harder question: why defend a broken commodity cacao market that has delivered poverty, child labor, and ecological damage for generations?
Is full vertical integration at origin the answer to a fairer cacao industry? Starting from Choco Estates' model in Ecuador, this article looks beyond the promise of full vertical integration to examine direct trade, farmer income, bean-to-bar chocolate, and what “fair” value distribution actually means across the cacao supply chain.
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