Chocolate begins long before roasting, tempering, or tasting notes. It begins with farmers—people who prune trees, harvest pods by hand, ferment beans, and care for one of the worlds most remarkable crops.
Trees are planted, pruned, and cared for year-round.
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pollination & care
Most cacao is pollinated by tiny midges. Farmers manage pests & disease naturally or with care.
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harvest by hand
Ripe pods are cut by hand with care to protect the tree and future harvests.
ferment*
Beans are fermented, often in tiered boxes for up to 5 days.
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dry*
Beans are dried in the sun and frequently turned for up to 8 days.
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prepare for market*
Dried beans are cleaned, sorted, and sold to a coop, exporter, or direct.
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* Fermentation, drying, and market prep may be done on the farm or by a local cooperative. Estimates suggest that 30-40% of cacao beans are finished on-farm, with the remainder processed through community or centralized facilities. Source: Cirad, 2020
walk a mile in their boots
Cacao farming often means making difficult decisions with imperfect options. What would you do?
The drought year
For generations, your family has grown a rare cacao variety on these hillsides. The trees do not produce as much as some newer varieties, but the flavor is special, and these trees have been part of your family’s story for as long as anyone can remember.
This year, the rains did not come. Then disease arrived. Seven out of every ten pods on your farm were lost.
Mangoes, avocados, and plantains will help feed your family, but cacao pays for school supplies, medicine, and repairs to your home.
A local nursery is offering seedlings of a newer cacao variety that grows faster, produces more, and tolerates disease better.
It may help keep the farm alive. But it is not the same cacao your grandparents planted.
What would you do?
family & harvest
For generations, your family has harvested cacao together.
Your children know these trees by heart. They can spot a ripe pod from across the field and have spent their lives helping during harvest season.
This year has been difficult. Prices are low, and several neighboring farms lost part of their crop to disease.
Harvest has finally arrived, but you cannot afford to hire enough workers.
If the pods are not picked soon, some may overripen or spoil, and your family could lose income needed for school fees, medicine, and repairs to your home.
Your oldest child offers to miss school for a few weeks to help with the harvest.
You know the extra hands would make a real difference.
But you also know that education may open doors your children never had.
What would you do?
the invitation
Your father spent his life doing things one way.
Your children may inherit something entirely different.
A group of farmers in your community is forming a new cooperative.
Together, they hope to build fermentation boxes, drying tables, and relationships with specialty buyers.
Together, they hope to improve quality, earn better prices, and create opportunities that no one farm could build alone.
To join, you may need to:
purchase a small ownership share
commit some or all of your harvest
learn new practices
trust others with part of your livelihood
Some neighbors are excited. Others are skeptical. “Nobody will care for your cacao the way you do.”
You have enough resources to try something new....but not enough to recover easily if it fails.
What would you do?
A farmer wakes up every morning trying to make the best decisions they can for their family, their farm, and their future—with the options they have available.
A farmer wakes up every morning trying to make the best decisions they can for their family, their farm, and their future—with the options they have available.
The reality
Most cacao farming families are smallholder farmers. They farm 1-5 hectares on average—often alongside other crops and sometimes another job.
90%+
of cacao is grown by smallholder farmers
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73-90%
of cacao-growing households earn less than a living income.
Source: Living Income Community of Practice 2020
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Climate change, disease, volatile prices, and limited access to resources increase risk every year.
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Long-term relationships, fair pricing, and shared investment creates the best chance for lasting positive change.
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—Hot sports opinion—
Fair Trade- GOOD; better than nothing, but modest impact.
Relationships- GREAT; can create the confidence needed for farmers to plant heirloom varieties, invest in fermentation, or recover from difficult seasons.
The Heirloom Cacao Project (HCP) is FANTASTIC for farmers, please check them out...
