Smallholder cocoa and coffee farmers and their cooperatives in Honduras are accessing new markets and making better business decisions through IBM Food Trust and IBM Watson Decision Platform for Agriculture, working with Heifer International and IBM.

Luker Chocolate’s affiliate nonprofit, Luker Foundation, has received a Transformadores Award from RedEAmérica for its work supporting cocoa farmers and their communities via The Cacao Effect alliance.

Ferrero Group achieved its goal of sourcing 100 percent sustainable cocoa at the end of 2020, but the company is continuing to scale its cocoa sustainability efforts under its Ferrero Farming Values Cocoa Programme.

“In developing our new Signature Origins products, we searched the cocoa-growing regions of the world to bring chefs chocolate with unique flavor profiles that truly stand apart from current gourmet offerings,” said Wim Bastiaens, Cargill’s gourmet and distribution director.

The Swiss company is launching a new Lindt EXCELLENCE bar with 82% cocoa and 18% Koa Powder.

In its biennial review of the cocoa sector, the VOICE Network found cocoa farming communities are still battling the effects of poverty, child labor and deforestation.

Guittard Chocolate Co. is launching the Cultivate Better cocoa initiative, a new program that engages with cocoa-growing communities to improve and protect unique flavor profiles while also developing integrated community initiatives that yield collaborative impact traceable to the farm level.

In celebration of Women’s Equality Day on Aug. 26, Fairtrade America highlights the progress made by its gender equality initiatives across the globe while continuing to strengthen its role as an ally to women in farming communities.

Though Africa supplies 70 percent of the world’s cocoa, the “statistical equivalent of 0 percent” of the world’s chocolate is produced there, says Tim McCollum, founder of Beyond Good. He's hoping to change that.