The Agri-Tourist, My Journey Back to Agriculture
Agritourism involves travel, entertainment, adventure and agriculture, but, at its core, agritourism is really about connecting and educating. Join me to learn from experienced agritourism farmers and entrepreneurs, and help me build my future farm strategy.
The Agri-Tourist, My Journey Back to Agriculture
Emily Stone Disrupts the Chocolate Economy, Impacting Over 10,000+ Cacao Farmers Globally
I can’t resist a great conversation about chocolate and cacao farming. I had the pleasure of interviewing someone I met at the beginning of her cacao journey, a real powerhouse and innovator at the time whom I met on my first chocolate trip to Belize - the one with the howler monkeys and the jungle cabana!
Emily Stone came on the cacao scene in Belize in 2010, made a tremendous impact to the lives and livelihood of cacao farmers in Belize and 15 years later is now running a much larger, global, certified B, Public Benefit Corporation. Her company, Uncommon Cacao, is a specialty cacao trader, sourcing from 10,000+ smallholder producers across 15+ countries and supplies cacao to hundreds of chocolate makers globally.
Across Uncommon Cacao’s businesses, the company has pioneered a new cacao economy that pays farmers more and is grounded in real partnerships that deliver improved stability and success for all. Uncommon Cacao works with all kinds of cacao buyers and chocolate makers as a problem solver and innovation partner. They promise to provide reliable quality cacao products accompanied by Transparent Trade data and stories from their cacao sourcing relationships, and drive transformative supply chain solutions for cacao producers and chocolate makers.
We rarely get a chance to see someone at the beginning of their journey and then get to reconnect with them 15 years later…. and get to talk about the extraordinary impact of those 15 years, wtih much more to come in the future. Emily’s story is impactful. Her drive is contagious. And her desire for transparency, equity and justice is admirable and will hopefully inspire the next set of Emily Stones to step up and tackle the many needs that exist in today’s world. Thank you Emily for all you do,..and continue to do to help farmers!
Thank you for taking the time to listen to The Agri-Tourist Podcast, for supporting our inspirational guests, and for sharing my personal journey back to agriculture.