A soft-commodities trade that cannot defend its origin cannot survive in today's market. We build traceability, deforestation-free sourcing and fair farmer relationships into how we work, not as a claim, but as a documented practice.
This page sets out what we do, what is in progress, and where we are honest about the gap.
Traceability tiers
We work to three tiers of traceability. A buyer specifies which they need; we deliver and document it.
| Tier | What it means | What travels with the lot |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Mass balance | Certified or compliant volume sourced against total volume, with chain-of-custody accounting. | Mass-balance statement, certification chain where applicable. |
| 2. Segregated | Compliant lots kept physically separate from non-compliant through the chain. | Segregation records, lot-level documentation. |
| 3. Full farm-to-port | Lot traced to named farms or cooperatives, with geolocation. | Farm/plot list, geolocation, EUDR due-diligence statement. |
Most of our EUDR-bound volume is full farm-to-port, because the regulation requires it.
EUDR readiness
The EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) requires that cocoa and coffee placed on the EU market is deforestation-free and accompanied by a due-diligence statement including geolocation of the plots of land of production.
We have built our origin operations to meet this:
- Geolocation data: we collect plot-level geolocation (polygons for plots over 4 hectares, points for smaller) from cooperatives and farmers at intake.
- Deforestation cut-off: we source against the EUDR cut-off date (31 December 2020) and map plots against deforestation status.
- Due-diligence statements: we prepare the DDS for each shipment, with the reference number, so buyers can submit and reference it.
- Risk assessment & mitigation: we assess origin risk, engage with cooperatives on compliance, and retain the evidence trail.
This is live practice, not a roadmap. Where a cooperative or a plot cannot meet the requirement, we do not ship that volume against EUDR.
Deforestation-free commitment
We do not source cocoa or coffee from land deforested after the EUDR cut-off date. We verify this through geolocation mapping at origin, and we refuse lots that cannot be verified.
Farmer partnerships and premium pass-through
Sustainability means the people who grow the crop are treated fairly, not just that the paperwork is clean. Where we agree certified or premium lots:
- Premium pass-through: a documented share of the premium reaches the cooperative and farmer, not absorbed at the trading level.
- Pre-finance: where agreed, we pre-finance cooperatives against the season so farmers are not forced to sell at the lowest price to meet cash needs.
- Quality training: our agronomists work with cooperatives on fermentation, drying and post-harvest handling: quality that earns a better price.
Social commitments
- No child labour, no forced labour: we source against child-labour and forced-labour standards, work with cooperatives on monitoring, and will not source from producers who fail remediation. See our Anti-Slavery Statement.
- Gender and youth: we support participation by women and young farmers in cooperatives and in the premium and training programmes we fund.
- Living income: we recognise that compliance and quality must sit alongside a fair return to farmers; we work toward, and are honest about the distance to, a living income across our origins.
Roadmap, and where we are honest
We will not claim to have solved what we have not. Where we stand:
- Done / live: EUDR geolocation collection, due-diligence statements, deforestation-free sourcing, third-party quality survey, premium pass-through.
- In progress: expanding full farm-to-port traceability across all origins; deepening gender and youth programmes; cooperative-level agroforestry support.
- Aspirational: verified living-income reference pricing across all origins; landscape-level deforestation monitoring.
Claims we will not make
- We do not claim certifications we do not hold. Certified lots (organic, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance / UTZ) are sourced against the buyer's requirement and documented.
- We do not claim "100% sustainable" without a defined standard behind it.
- We do not publish invented impact figures. Where we cite numbers, they are documented.
Talk to our compliance desk
If you need EUDR due-diligence documentation, a specific traceability tier, or a certified-lot programme, our compliance desk will scope it with you.
