Ecuador
ECO CACAO
Regenerative, FTO cacao from the tropical coastal rainforests of Esmeraldas.
2023 Data - Product
Quality: Ultra Premium
Flavor: Brownie Edges, Jasmine & Honey
Fermentations Style: Box
Drying Style: Raised beds with a roof
Quality Practices: Temperature monitoring during fermentation & cut tests during drying stage
Machine Sorting: Yes
Certifications: Organic & Fair Trade
2023 Data - Planet
Crops that are used for intercropping: Banana, plantain, orange, lime, papaya, avocado & guava
Environmental practices: Voluntary conservation areas, soil & bank conservation, diversification of plots & regenerative practices
Organic hectares cultivated: 288
Average percent of shade of cacao farms: 40%
Distance of producer to facility (km): 20
Distance to port (km): 484
Ocean freight CO2kgs per MT (US): 80
Ocean Freight CO2kgs per MT (EU): 159
2023 Data - People
Trainings conducted: Farm productivity, ecological practices & cacao quality
Producers purchased from: 70
Female producers: 20
Producers under 35 y/o: 20
Organic producers: 101
Total # of producers trained: 80
Total # of female producers trained: 52
Total # of producers under 35y/o trained: 25
Full time employees: 1
Full time female employees: 1
Part time employees: 2
Part time female employees: 2
Average farm size (ha): 3.6
Average sales per producer (dry kg): 177.88
Average annual cacao revenue per producer: $473.17
Fairtrade and Organic Certified association, and is one of 6 associations that comprise the UOPROCAE group.
Located in the coastal Esmeraldas region of Ecuador, EcoCacao is committed to preserving and regenerating the forests of Punta Galera, which is the last reasonably sized humid tropical forest next to the sea in the country.
Several NGOs have worked with EcoCacao and other UOPROCAE members since 2005 on environmental and cacao related projects, most notably a practice known as regenerative agriculture. The aim in this type of farming is to actually restore rainforest within cacao farms, rather than deforest in order to plant cacao. Since 2016, there has not been explicit funding for the regenerative agriculture project, and it has become obvious that for it to survive, the cacao needs to sell at a price that can sustain the training program, management, and audit of the regenerative practices that cacao farmers within EcoCacao are using. Uncommon Cacao partnered with Endorfin to pay regenerative premiums so this important project can continue.
TERROIR
In order to preserve the best varieties, EcoCacao is marking the best trees at all of the farms. They use seeds from those trees to grow saplings to plant in other areas. That helps them be certain that they are selecting for genetics that do really well in this micro- climate. Climate change is heavily affecting cacao in the area.
Fairtrade and Organic Certified association, and is one of 6 associations that comprise the UOPROCAE group.
Located in the coastal Esmeraldas region of Ecuador, EcoCacao is committed to preserving and regenerating the forests of Punta Galera, which is the last reasonably sized humid tropical forest next to the sea in the country.
Several NGOs have worked with EcoCacao and other UOPROCAE members since 2005 on environmental and cacao related projects, most notably a practice known as regenerative agriculture. The aim in this type of farming is to actually restore rainforest within cacao farms, rather than deforest in order to plant cacao. Since 2016, there has not been explicit funding for the regenerative agriculture project, and it has become obvious that for it to survive, the cacao needs to sell at a price that can sustain the training program, management, and audit of the regenerative practices that cacao farmers within EcoCacao are using. Uncommon Cacao partnered with Endorfin to pay regenerative premiums so this important project can continue.
TERROIR
In order to preserve the best varieties, EcoCacao is marking the best trees at all of the farms. They use seeds from those trees to grow saplings to plant in other areas. That helps them be certain that they are selecting for genetics that do really well in this micro- climate. Climate change is heavily affecting cacao in the area.
Samples are only available from the USA
Notable Awards
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Flavor Profile
Brownie Edges, Jasmine, Fig & Honey
2023 Farmgate Price
$2.66
This is the actual price paid to the cacao producer for their product (typically on a per kg or per lb basis) when they sell it to the first buyer. Farmgate price is often paid for "wet" or fresh cacao, recently harvested and scooped out of cracked pods for sale. Wet cacao loses 60-70% of its weight during fermentation and drying, typically reaching 7-8% humidity before it is sold.
Uncommon calculates farmgate price for each cacao supplier based on the specific weight loss conversion percentage provided to us by the supplier, and we report farmgate price on a per kg dried equivalent basis for all cacao beans we source.
Pictured is Yolanda and her daughter Eli enjoy freshly harvested cacao from their farm.
2023 Association Price
$3.31
This is the price the exporter pays the association for cacao.
In some cases in our supply chain there is an organized group of producers that aggregate cacao and sell it to an exporter.
Pictured is Isidro as he opens a freshly harvested cacao pod on his farm.
2023 FOB Price
$5.24
This is the price paid by Uncommon to our partners for cacao transported and loaded onto a ship for export.
Uncommon then covers all of the costs of shipping, freight charges, insurance, import, domestic logistics, warehouse ingestion, customs and duties.
Free on board (FOB) is an international shipping term that represents the seller's responsibility for bringing the cacao over the rails of the export ship.
Pictured is George Fletcher on his farm next to a cacao tree.
2023 Average Sales Price
$8.93
This is the weighted average price per kg for cacao sold to the premium & ultra premium chocolate makers who purchased it during this year from Uncommon Cacao.
We believe that the difference between traceability and transparency is published and verifiable data for each and every step in our supply chain.
