The Story of Our Process
An Idea and Action
Around 2006, we decided that, to begin to make concrete social and environmental impact, we needed to develop our own project based our own ideals. We began searching for abandoned and degraded agricultural land near the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of Guatemala. In the end, we found a property in the Izabal region near Rio Dulce that was part of a large family farm that was slowly being abandoned. The farm had been used for grazing, corn and corozo palm production.
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A vast amount of the work in the first years was establishing infrastructure including road making, recovering water springs and building shelters. The roads were incredibly important as the farm is remote, and access was difficult if not impossible during rainy months. How did we do this?
1. Use topography to design a road system that reduces erosion or need for severe excavation
2. Identify waterways to protect riparian areas along rivers and springs
3. Use flat dry areas for buildings
Defining Land-use
The land was highly variable in the level of degradation. Severely degraded areas (approximately less than 20% tree cover) were used for facilities. Moderately degraded areas (approximately between 20 and 50% tree cover) were used for productive tree plantations and restoration with native tree planting. Minimally degraded or more remote areas (approximately greater than 50% tree cover) were left alone to follow forest succession (natural regeneration, tree growth and nutrient cycling). This resulted in a variation of management across the property:
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1. ~25% highly degraded for infrastructure
2. ~35% moderately degraded managed for trees
3. ~40% minimally degraded and remote for conservation
Integrating Cacao
The initial infrastructure and tree planting spanned a 6-year period. However, by 2012, the costs quickly escalated, and our awareness that shorter-term economic returns were necessary for sustaining our conservation and restoration plans. We began exploring economic avenues for sustainable yearly production. Our focus was on incorporating native plant species. For example, we assessed bamboo because there are multiple species native to the Izabal region that have construction value. However, our clayey soil was not going to be conducive to growing these species in many parts of the land. This fact raises an important point (match environment and site conditions with the plant production).
We chose cacao because:
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1. The Mayan red cacao plant is a native rare mother tree identified deep in the jungles from near 3000 year old Mayan settlements.
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2. It can be produced in shade (allowing us to maintain higher forest diversity with production).
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3. It has the potential to better the livelihood of the Maya Q'eqchi' surrounding villagers.
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4. Our farming practices and idea can be replicated in local comunal land.
In 2015, cacao was planted in the degraded areas that had not yet been replanted, so natural forest succession had continued since 2006. Therefore, we now had a higher cover of trees greater than 5 m tall. We removed invasive grasses and shrubs mainly to create space and began planting cacao under the taller surrounding trees. We sourced seedlings from multiple local nurseries and found varying establishment success of plants. We quickly learned the health of nursery seedlings greatly affected survival after planting in the land.
Guatemalan Production
The first years were difficult as the Izabal region experienced unprecedented drought between 2016 and 2019 including a severe El Niño event, which reduces rainfall in Central and South America.
(see some of Mikey’s research on this from Costa Rica)
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By 2018, we began to have some cacao fruit production at low levels, and we started exploring options. We realized that the value of our product was worth due to:
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1. Our strict organic practices
2. Commitment to local communities
3. Emphasis on biodiversity conservation
4. High quality seed and fermentation
5. Genuine drive to honor the land
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However, we also realized these non-market values were not going to provide sufficient resources to cover costs. We began making connections with Guatemalan chocolatiers. A realization struck us:
We need to build the supply-chain of cacao production locally to promote long-term economic impacts for the country.
Promoting Guatemalan Chocolate
By 2020, we had established relationships within Guatemala:
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1. A local carpenter for establishing greater drying and fermentation facilities from our timber
2. Local entrepreneurial brothers and founders who handcraft our bars and who share our values
3. A small printing firm based in Guatemala City for packaging
We continue to develop flavorful chocolates and looking for new partners throughout the globe to make the right connections and bring our unique organic chocolate into new markets.
When you purchase a LAAT' product rest assure that each bar supports a
growing supply line in Guatemala and the belief that small grassroots projects can have large impacts.
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Most importantly: BE the change you wish to see in the world. Educate yourself, be a responsable consumer, understand the rippling-consequences of your actions, and care for the land. It's sacred and it's here for us to cuddle, treat tenderly and accordingly.
Our children's future and our health depends on it. All life forms, from the simplest to most most complex organism, depend on it.
