Sustainable Cocoa Farming Practices

Barry Callebaut, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products, has officially launched the Future Farming Initiative (FFI) on April 18, 2024. The FFI aims to establish a fully scalable, sustainable, and profitable cocoa farming model for the industry. Under the leadership of Steven Retzlaff, who will serve as the Executive Chairman of FFI while remaining a member of Barry Callebaut’s Executive Committee, the initiative seeks to leverage the company’s decade-long experience in sustainability to transform cocoa farming. The initiative will focus on developing technology and R&D capabilities that can be scaled, with the intention for FFI to act as a catalyst for investment in farming and to foster partnerships with farmers to modernize sustainable cocoa farming at scale.

The first step in this ambitious project involves a partnership with a high-tech farming business in Bahia, Brazil, for the initial development of 5,000 hectares of land. This collaboration aims to pilot and develop best practices that will create a scalable and profitable high-tech model for sustainable cocoa farming. Additionally, Barry Callebaut’s original 640-hectare Farm of the Future property, located in the Cerecitas Valley, Ecuador, will be integrated into the FFI. These efforts are part of Barry Callebaut’s broader commitment to sustainability, as evidenced by its renewed Forever Chocolate program, which continues to support the development of sustainable cocoa production in its origin-sourcing countries.