The Lindt & Sprüngli
Farming Program
What the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program is about
The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program builds on the “bean to bar” approach, which allows us to oversee the entire production process, take responsibility, and directly support cocoa farmers and farming communities according to their context-specific needs. 100% of our cocoa beans are sourced through the Farming Program. In 2021, we have expanded the Program from cocoa beans to cocoa butter. In 2022, we also started sourcing small amounts of cocoa powder through our Farming Program. The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program is aimed at three main outcomes: increasing the resilience of farming households, reducing the risk of child labor, and conserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems. To achieve this vision, our Program deploys measures to facilitate higher productivity, support diversification of household incomes, improve community infrastructure, and address deforestation.
The Farming Program guarantees us access to the supply of high-quality cocoa beans from a pre-defined and stable base of cocoa farmers, while our stakeholders can be assured that we source and process the traceable beans from the farmers in our externally verified Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program. Since 2020, 100% of our cocoa beans are traceable back to the farmers and externally verified. This is a major step toward our target to source all cocoa products (beans, butter, powder, and chocolate mass) through sustainability programs by 2025.
Challenges & Our Objectives
In our countries of origin, cocoa production faces deep-rooted challenges. Small farms, old and diseased cocoa trees, as well as limited agricultural practices, can result in low yields and insufficient income for farmers and their families. Poor infrastructure and a lack of access to farming equipment make production even more difficult. Finally, environmental challenges such as climate change and deforestation are crucial issues.
It is our priority to tackle these obstacles. The goal of the Farming Program is to create decent and resilient livelihoods for today’s and future cocoa farmers and their families, and encourage more sustainable farming practices. We aim to achieve this by facilitating higher productivity of farms, farmer premiums, access to finance, diversified household incomes, community development and improved infrastructure, preservation of biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and reduced risk of child labor.
Our Approach – 4 Pillars
The four pillars of the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program
Tracing our beans
Knowing where our beans come from helps us connect better with the farmers and understand their local environment and community needs. Therefore, our Program starts with:
Registering farmers and organizing them in groups for Program implementation
Gathering baseline data about farms (incl. GPS coordinates and farm polygons), farmers, and communities to assess their needs and design the Program
Establishing a sound traceability system of cocoa beans from the cocoa farmers all the way to our factory doors
Training the farmers
We train farmers in cultivation techniques that respect the environment and people. This empowers the farmers and helps them develop their skills and practices.
Agricultural practices, including planting, maintenance, harvesting, fermentation, and drying of cocoa beans
Environmental practices, such as protection of biodiversity and the environment
Social practices and sensitization to topics such as health, safety, labor standards, and child labor
Business practices, including bookkeeping, farm management, and income diversification
Investments for farmers and communities
We invest to support cocoa farmers, their families, and their communities. This includes:
Productive and disease-resistant cocoa seedlings, as well as multi-purpose shade trees for agroforestry
In-kind premiums (e.g., farming tools and inputs) or cash premiums
Access to financial knowledge and services including support of Village Saving & Loan Associations
Support for generating additional income through trainings and starting capital
Community Development
In order to support communities in their development, the Program provides:
Access to drinking water through construction of water systems and boreholes
Child Labour Monitoring and Remediation System (CLMRS), including investments in education infrastructure
Independently verifying our program
Our Farming Program activities get evaluated by an independent external organization. This objective view helps us evaluate the Program’s effectiveness and continuously improve.
Internal monitoring by Program field staff based on yearly visits to all farmers in the Program to evaluate the progress of farmers’ sustainable farming practices
Annual external assessment by an independent third party
Identification, discussion, and implementation of corrective actions based on data gathered and the external assessment results for continuous improvement of the Program
