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Chocolate is one of the world's most beloved treats — and it’s not difficult to see why. It’s comforting, moreish and, quite frankly, delicious. However, the chocolate industry has a dark side that is often overlooked. Cocoa farming, the process that produces the raw material for chocolate, can have devastating effects on the environment and on the livelihoods of the farmers who grow it. In recent years, concerns about the sustainability of cocoa farming and the exploitation of cocoa farmers have become more widespread.
Fortunately, there are companies that are striving to make a positive change in the chocolate industry. At Love Cocoa, we’re proud to be one such brand. We’re committed to producing ethical and sustainable chocolate products that not only taste great but also give back to the planet and our cocoa producers.
Read on to learn about our sustainable cocoa farming practices.
What do we mean by sustainable cocoa farming?
Chocolate’s main ingredient comes from cocoa pods and, as with many crops, farming cocoa takes up a lot of land and resources. Cocoa trees need a humid climate and rich soil, so plantations thrive best in tropical areas. They also need plenty of shade and tend to grow amongst other crops, like bananas and coconuts.
As a result, a lot of land needs to be dedicated to the process — and this often means the destruction of other biodiverse areas. With a predicted 28,000 plant and animal species expected to become extinct in the next 25 years due to deforestation, something needs to change.
As you might have guessed from our name, we love cocoa — but we also love the planet. So the big question is: how can we produce cocoa in an environmentally-friendly way that minimises deforestation? Well, this is how we employ sustainable cocoa farming practices…
Eco-conscious cocoa farming
We work with small-scale cocoa farmers who take active steps to minimise damage to the environment. Our producers in Bogota, Colombia, are part of a family-run business who have been in the industry for years, and they’ve also been carbon-neutral across all their farms and operations since 2021. This is a great step towards a more sustainable chocolate industry, which has historically caused untold damage to the environment due to CO2 emissions.
They’re also committed to restoring over 1,400,000 hectares of Colombian forest by 2030. While reforestation isn’t an instant fix, it will help support biodiversity and encourage wildlife to return to the area.
Our Plant A Tree Project
Have you heard about our Plant A Tree Project? As well as working with cocoa farmers committed to reforestation, we want to do our part, too. For every chocolate bar you buy from Love Cocoa, we plant a tree.
By partnering with Eden Reforestation Projects, we’re aiming to replenish the rainforests and woodlands that cocoa production typically cuts into. We’re also helping local farming communities transition away from unsustainable farming practices, promoting a greener, fairer mode of production.
Rather than being simply carbon-neutral, we’re carbon-negative.
What about ethics?
As well as focusing on the sustainability of our cocoa and chocolate production, we’re also committed to supporting the farmers who do such incredible work for us. Sadly, the chocolate industry is rife with exploitative practices. Often, cocoa farmers are paid poorly for their crops. In many cases, multinational companies employ lots of intermediaries, meaning they never have direct contact with the cocoa farmers and, as a result, have little knowledge of what they need.
We work with suppliers who work directly with cocoa farmers and ensure they receive fair pay for their crops — they receive higher than the market price.
And it’s not all about money, either — we’re keen to develop respectful, longstanding relationships with our cocoa growers and suppliers that go beyond mere transactions. That’s why we’re proud to work with suppliers who offer local Colombian farmers training under Trees for the Future's Forest Garden Training Approach. This programme aims to increase income and promote better health and wellbeing among cocoa farming communities.
Climate-positive chocolate from Love Cocoa
The Love Cocoa team is on a mission to create a fairer, more sustainable chocolate industry. And we believe that this starts at the source. While we also focus on easily-recyclable, plastic-free packaging, we want to ensure our chocolate is climate-positive from its roots. By avoiding large multinational corporations and partnering with small, family-run businesses, we can produce high-quality chocolate that tastes delicious and supports the talented farmers who grow that all-important cocoa.
Why not explore our ethical chocolate range for yourself? Whether you’re looking for a gift for a loved one or a little treat for yourself, we have climate-positive chocolate for all occasions.
