LA FUNDACIÓN DOMINICANO DE PRODUCTORES ORGÁNICO

FUNDOPO cooperative is a Fair Trade certified organization made up of about 1,500 organic cocoa farmers in Altagracia, Dominican Republic.

Their mission is to create improvements in the every day lives of each of its members and the environment. By encouraging the democratic participation of their members, operating with a transparent administration, and promoting the conservation and biodiversity of their land, they strive to be the best cooperative they can be—one where all members have an equal voice to ensure the production of cocoa for generations to come.

With the Fair Trade price premium the producers earn, they collectively create infrastructure in their communities. Since the founding of the cooperative, FUNDOPO’s leaders have successfully executed several projects to date—like creating training groups that teach new methods of farming to improve the quality of their harvests so each farmer can earn higher prices for their crops and hard work. Operating under a rule of fair distribution of goods and services for all of its members, FUNDOPO has an efficiency in their cooperative that one farmer alone could never achieve—like purchasing expensive tools for shared use or dividing tasks and labor to make sure each farmer’s harvest is properly cared for with equal importance.

Scroll through photos to meet a few farmers and learn about how cocoa is grown:

Each bag is assigned a number—which is how we trace our beans back to the very farm from which they were grown.

Taking a break after working in the warm Dominican sun certainly looks relaxing!

Cocoa plants start off just like any other—each seed is germinated and planted.

These seedlings are at varying stages of growth—2 weeks old, one month old, and 3 months old.

A fully-grown cocoa tree, probably about a handful of years old.

Meet Daniel—just 7 years old and already a chocolate connoisseur. He and his sisters love chocolate ice cream even more than they love playing soccer!

Cocoa pods vary in color and texture—from dark red to bright yellow, and to vivid green.

Ripe pods are hand cut and collected in bags when harvested.

Meet Julio –one of our favorite farmers we met on our tour. He absolutely loves being a cocoa farmer, and certainly loves to crack jokes, too!

Bet you didn’t know you can eat cocoa seeds raw! But, they don’t really taste like cocoa—more like an under ripe mango.

Once the seeds are removed, they are hand sorted so only the perfect ones remain.

The seeds are then transferred to large bags and left in the warm sun to ferment for a handful of days—this is when the rich cocoa flavor begins to develop.

Once fermented, the seeds are spread on huge beds to air dry.

Meet Elena—one of the founders of FUNDOPO. Cocoa farming has been in her family for five generations.

Dried beans are then sifted and bagged into 50kg parcels.