One US chocolate company is pushing industry boundaries by supporting cacao farmers through sustainable sourcing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo…Seattle-based Theo sources cacao beans from war-torn eastern Congo and pays premium prices for them. By doing so, the chocolate maker provides a livelihood to about 2,000 farmers and indirect benefits to perhaps another 20,000 people in the Congo…Theo can only do so much. But its work in the Congo demonstrates how companies, big or small, can find ways to attack some of the world's most intractable problems, if they have the will to do so…His hope is that other chocolate companies invest in the livelihood of cacao farmers…Paul Fagan, the executive director at the Eastern Congo Initiative, hopes Theo's success will attract others. "We're encouraging investors to come into the Congo and see what they can do, although it's difficult environment, to be sure," he says. "Cocoa is an area of potential growth. Coffee, too". [Also refers to REI, Kroger, Safeway [part of Morrisons], Whole Foods]