We rolled up our sleeves and got stuck in at the roots of the cacao trees on our cacao farm at the Rabot Estate. We dug deeply, humbly learning the intricacies of growing, fermenting, drying, roasting and conching cacao beans. For the first time, with our support and their know-how, our Saint Lucian farmers grew beans that we created single-origin chocolate from, winning highly acclaimed global awards in the process.

Today, cacao is a successful, and growing, industry on the island and we support over 50 Island Growers with our Gentle farming initiatives.

Around the world, increasing pressure on farming methods due to low payments for cacao has led to deforestation, poor soil quality, loss of biodiversity and a cycle of hardship for farming families. We believe in working with farmers to develop a better way: one that’s positive for nature and positive for farmers, helping both to thrive.

By becoming cacao farmers, ourselves, we’ve seen the cacao-growing challenges first-hand. Working with farmers and experts in both Ghana and Saint Lucia, we began our journey towards a better way 20 years ago, developing what we call gentle farming. And today we reinvest a proportion of our annual global profits into funding gentle farming initiatives. These include the provision of shade and high-yield cacao tree seedlings, on-farm pruning support and labour, and organic fertiliser workshops.