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Manage and save your personal detailsCocoa is our most precious raw material. This time, we are following it all the way to Costa Rica, over 9,000 km away. The precise location is Upala, a northerly region of the country. There we visit Edwin, one of our long-standing partners, who manages cocoa plantations with his family and is constantly inventing new farming methods.
“El Cacao” is the name they lovingly gave to the community of just under 50 people that they founded with other cocoa farmers.
Edwin is already waving at us from afar as we drive across the field to his house. He wipes his hands on his T-shirt; he has just come from the plantation, he says apologetically.
Hence the rubber boots, too. A section of the cocoa fields directly abuts his house, and he immediately starts talking ten to the dozen: about the last harvest, about his latest method for combating pests, which he invented himself, and about many other ideas. His wife joins us with a knowing smile on her face and says that, first things first, we should go sit in the garden, drink a coffee and recover from our journey in peace.
Edwin’s father and grandfather owned cocoa plantations before him. However, their cocoa trees were completely destroyed in the Noughties. Hard times followed. They had to find a new way of making a living and started cultivating pineapples and exporting these to Florida.
A few years later, they once more tried their hand at cocoa farming, this time in a different place, and with success. Over the years, they have acquired a lot of knowledge and haven’t shied away from experimenting either, as Edwin explains. “El Cacao” is the name they lovingly gave to the community of just under 50 people that they founded with other cocoa farmers.
In addition to cultivating the Trinitario cocoa type, which forms the basis of Läderach’s dark chocolate, Edwin also runs a small farm with chickens and goats. There he grows his own grain, as well as real vanilla. For his plantations, he uses home-produced fertilizers and specially bred bacteria to combat pests. That’s because the farmers are always confronted with fresh challenges: hitherto unknown pest types, heavy rainfall that leaves the earth waterlogged and causes fungi to grow, and changes in the soil structure. And yet cocoa farming remains Edwin’s great passion – he has been a cocoa farmer for over 40 years. During this time, he has learned an incredible amount, attended further education courses and been in regular contact with farmers from other regions. At the moment, he is experimenting with a bacterium created from sea water and chicken eggs to help him with pest control.
Edwin has exclusively supplied cocoa to Läderach for over 10 years. although he does keep a small portion of the harvest for himself, he explains with a laugh. He too is a fan of chocolate. He is regularly visited by Läderach employees, who swap ideas with him; just a few months ago, he was visited by over 50 managers. They came as part of an anniversary trip, and our team were astonished by everything that Edwin has achieved. Showing his home and his work to people from faraway countries and cultures during this trip filled him with great pride.
Edwin’s passion, contentment and “pura vida” are infectious. When you take your next bite of our dark chocolate, perhaps you too will think of Costa Rica and be transported to Edwin’s garden.
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