It is impossible to get a feel for the scale of Finca Chocolat without putting on boots and spending a day exploring the farm, but we wanted to share a glimpse into an area of the farm that not many have the chance to see. The picture above is of 2-year-old cacao trees planted under the existing canopy. The cacao loves the cool shade and benefits from the leaf litter of the trees above it.
These trees have already jorquetted and will undergo structural pruning toward the end of the rainy season in 2025. They will start to produce some pods in 2026 and be fully mature trees in 2027. Each year, we will have approximately 15,000 cacao trees coming into production for the next decade.