Note: This post is authored by Nico Schiller, Corporate Affairs Manager at Mars Chocolate Germany
Birds twittering in the rainforest, the steady chirp of cicadas. We are on a press trip...
The following post is authored by Alastair Child, Mars Global Chocolate Cocoa Sustainability Director.
Today’s...
The following blog post is from Hussin Purung, Mars Cocoa Sustainability Field Manager in Indonesia.
The West African cocoa industry is at a crossroads. Two million cocoa...
We announced our intention to map the cocoa genome in 2008 and were very excited to finish the project almost 3 years ahead...
Having just returned from a trip to Cote d’Ivoire to check in on our sustainability efforts there, I’m struck by the difference from my last visit. I was last in Cote d’Ivoire in 2010 when we signed the Memorandum of Understanding (click
Efforts to increase collaboration between cocoa producers, international traders, partner organizations and policy makers took a major step forward during the second annual Africa Fairtrade Conventionin Accra, Ghana on...
Every now and then in cocoa sustainability work it’s very useful to take stock of where we are on a particular topic, share ideas and put experts together. At the end of last year we did this for the areas of cocoa soils and use of fertilizer in cocoa production. We started...
On Sunday, February 26th, I participated in a panel on sustainable sourcing at Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Social Enterprise 2012 conference. Moderated by HBS professor Christopher...
The Regional Cocoa Breeders Group is a collaboration of regional Asia/Pacific cocoa breeders in Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea and India. The group meets to address improving planting materials for cocoa farmers. A majority of collaborators are...
As you may have seen, we announced today that Mars Chocolate met its 2011 benchmark of purchasing 10 percent certified sustainable cocoa – or approximately 30,000 tons – as part of its total supply. In two short years, we have made dramatic progress towards reaching our...
Traveling to cocoa growing communities around the world has long been an important part of my job, and though it involves a lot of time in airplanes throughout the year, there’s just no substitute for seeing our projects in person and meeting the people involved.
On Sunday,...
For our French readers, we offer these observations on the Vision for Change project in Cote d’Ivoire
C’est un ambitieux programme de revitalisation du verger cacaoyer en Côte d’Ivoire que le projet Vision for Change (V4C) lancé par l’industriel chocolatier MARS Inc.et mis en œuvre par World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)- Centre International de Recherche en Agroforesterie- qui se déroule depuis un an déjà dans le … Read more
Mars Chocolate and The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Indonesia to enhance the quality and reach of its cocoa sustainability initiative.
Mars has served as one of the founding members of the Cocoa Sustainability partnership, which was established in 2005. With collaboration from key industry leaders such as Swisscontact, Rainforest Alliance, UTZ, University Hassanudin and others, Mars has … Read more
Watch our new video to meet some of the farmers working with our Vision for Change project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Here at Mars, we are encouraged to see the new changes to the Fairtrade Standard for Cocoa for Small Producer Organizations. At its core, our partnership with Fairtrade International shares the principle of putting farmers first. With regard to cocoa, yield and quality improvement offer significant income-generating opportunities for farmers, while at the same time protecting their livelihoods in the long term.
For too long, … Read more
What kind of news brings together the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post? Our announcement last week that the sector will need to invest in billions of dollars to make it sustainable was featured in both media outlets. On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal (available here at NASDAQ’s web site) ran a story on the efforts by both Mars Chocolate and The Hershey Company … Read more
Today, Mars Inc. released its 2nd annual Principles in Action summary, which details the company’s approach to business and Mar’s commitment to put its Five Principles into action. As part of the summary, we are highlighting our Sustainable Cocoa Initiative.
As readers of this blog know, creating a sustainable cocoa sector that can meet the chocolate industry’s long-term demand for cocoa, the essential … Read more
Congratulations to The Hershey Company, which announced this week it too will source 100 percent certified cocoa for its global chocolate product lines by 2020. It is gratifying to see more and more stakeholders recognizing the importance of certification to creating a sustainable future for chocolate. The more commitments from companies like Mars Chocolate and Hershey, among others to adopt certification protocols, the better … Read more
The most effective way to raise productivity on farms is to show best practice in action and to give farmers the skills and tools they need to apply it on their own farms. In Petit Bondoukou, Mars Chocolate is beginning to do just that by implementing a Cocoa Development Center.
Scroll through these photos to see some snapshots of daily life in the community of … Read more
Take a few minutes to read this month’s issue of NCA Journal for a piece regarding our Sustainable Cocoa Initiative. The magazine interviewed Andrew Harner for a comprehensive article on the work we are doing in cocoa sustainability, with a special focus on the Vision for Change program in Côte d’Ivoire. It was gratifying to discuss with them the importance of the Cocoa Development Centers … Read more
Making the cocoa business sustainable means more than just coming up with the right farming techniques; it also means teaching those techniques to farmers and suppliers up and down the supply chain. Agricultural innovations are useless if businesses don’t know how to implement them.
In Sulawesi we’ve been very busy teaching cocoa agronomists and suppliers from around the world about our methods of cocoa rehabilitation, … Read more
français