Beginning in the 1980s, some consumers learned that cacao farmers were living difficult and uncertain live. The farmers received money for their crops based on world markets, and the market price for cacao was sometimes so low that the farmers received less for their crop than the crops had cost to produce. In response, groups of consumers in europe and the united states developed "fair trad" organizations to guarantee that farmers of cacao, as well as coffee and tea, would receive fair and consistent prices for their crop.