encouraging sustainable, responsible cocoa growing

Entry: Tracey Duffey

Last week, Bill Guyton and I attended the Pennsylvania Manufacturing Confectioners’ Association* (PMCA) 61st Production Conference held in Hershey, Pennsylvania.

This year’s conference marked a commemorative 100 year anniversary of PMCA which was established in 1907. The World Cocoa Foundation was deeply honored to receive the distinguished Hans Dresel Memorial Award in recognition of the Foundation’s outstanding contributions to the confectionery industry in the area of farmer training to improve cocoa quality. During the awards dinner, BK Matlick accepted the award on behalf of the Foundation and was accompanied by Alfredo Dueñas Davalos, a master trainer of Farmer Field Schools from Ecuador who has been working in collaboration with us for many years.

Several of our Board Members were also present at the dinner, and joined us for a picture (from left to right): Larry Graham, President of the National Confectioners Association; Alfredo; BK; Bill; Kip Walk, Director of Cocoa Procurement for Blommer Chocolate Company and WCF Co-Vice Chair; Lynn Bragg, President of the Chocolate Manufacturers Association; along with myself on the end.

In addition to the awards ceremony, BK and Alfredo jointly presented a session the following day: A “Behind the Scenes” Look at the World Cocoa Foundation’s Field Training Program. BK prefaced the talk by discussing the Farmer Field School (FFS) Methodology, its history of how it got started in cocoa and how it all works. Alfredo then followed by presenting several real life examples of cocoa farmers and their stories of how the FFS training helped them to make a better life for themselves and their families, while also helping their farmer neighbors in learning better cocoa farming techniques. The presentation concluded with a video of Ecuadorian farmers. The presentations and video will be posted shortly so please stop back.

*For those of you who may not be familiar with PMCA, it is a non-profit international trade association in the confectionery industry. PMCA provides open forums for exchange of technical information through its Annual Production Conference; promotes and directs basic and applied scientific research in the science of chocolate and confectionery through its Research Program at leading universities; and trains technical and manufacturing personnel worldwide through its Short Course Program.