The key annual Chocoa festival in Amsterdam once again successfully highlighted some of the major new releases from around the world. Neill Barston reflects back on an event that was one of the last shows to be held since major lockdown moves were put in place by governments around the world over the past two months. For its eighth edition, the Chocoa chocolate festival in Amsterdam saw a wealth of new products being showcased from around the world, as well as major discussions on sustainability.
The main conference day centred on critical topics making headlines on how improvements are being made within the cocoa supply chain by some of the biggest players operating within the industry. Confectionery Production attended the launch of the product last September, with the business expected to bring the product to market by next year, once commercial partners for its full development have been taken forward. Consequently, questions from the audience were raised on whether the fact complete fruit is now being sold to Barry Callebaut, if this would negatively impact on the prices that are paid to farmers.
So, the more successful we are, as well as the more ruby and wholefruit chocolate there is, the more benefits to farming communities there are, as that is how we operate on a value level. Recently, Farmerline was named by Time magazine as having among the best inventions that are making the world better with its Mergdata web and mobile application.
This is reportedly now assisting a total of , farmers across a total of 13 African countries. As the organisation explained, the scheme includes software designed for farmer profiling, certification, mapping, and trace- ability parameters. It is also capable of arranging digital payments. Karen Reijnen, innovation director for Rainforest alliance, explained there had been some notable changes over the past five years in terms of improving farming conditions.
We see improved basing and tracking of cocoa, mobile payments and sourcing, but which of these have an impact?
