Sustainability

As one of the world’s largest cocoa and chocolate manufacturers, ADM is committed to ensuring a sustainable future for cocoa farming. While we are not growers of cocoa, ADM works with others along the cocoa supply chain to improve the lives of cocoa-farming families and the communities in which they operate.

Cocoa farmers around the world face many challenges. An estimated one-third of the global cocoa crop is destroyed by pests and disease each year. Many cocoa farmers have limited access to the latest agricultural technologies and planting materials. And few have business training to help them effectively market their product and manage their operations.

Beyond economic and operational limitations, many cocoa-farming communities face challenges of poverty and disease. Industry groups, governments and consumers worldwide have raised concerns about pesticide use and child labor on West African cocoa farms.

ADM believes that by working with farmers, grower cooperatives, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academia, industry partners and governments, we can help address these issues and improve the lives of cocoa farmers and the communities in which they live.

Our goal is a sustainable cocoa supply chain that brings value to cocoa farming communities, as well as those further along the chain, in accordance with legally and socially acceptable practices.

ADM offers thousands of cocoa farmers and others a range of programs, from agronomy to health education and farm safety to school lunches.

The Socially and Environmentally Responsible Agricultural Practices program, or SERAP, began in 2005. Since that time, the initiative has provided more than US$10.4 million in financial incentives to cooperatives and individual farmers in Côte d'Ivoire that meet specific criteria for financial transparency, product-quality management, safe farming practices, responsible labor management and forest protection.