 Natural vanilla is the second most expensive spice after suffering. Just one kilo of it can cost hundreds of euros. Most natural vanilla is produced in Madagascar by local farmers. Farming and curing vanilla beans is all done by hand and vanilla orchids only allow a 24 hour window a year to harvest their fruits. Freshly plucked beans also begin fermenting immediately so farmers have to sell them quickly before they go bad. Despite all this hard work vanilla crops are at risk of being wiped out by tropical cyclones which are becoming more frequent and intense. Yet vanilla is often the only source of annual income for many local farmers making them vulnerable when negotiating prices with the companies that buy it. In fact vanilla farmers only receive around 5% of its export price. The real profit is made later in the chain when beans are sold to traders that export vanilla around the world. But even if vanilla farmers maintain lower profits their income is still high for Madagascar whose citizens live on less than 2 euros per day. Because of this vanilla beans are often stolen and farmers have been attacked and even killed for their beans. When buying natural vanilla we should try to support fair trade producers. It might cost a bit more but at least we know companies have signed formal contracts with farmers and are paying them fair wages.