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CASE 1 · XOCO GOURMET · GROW AND SCALE

From cattle pastureto living asset.

At El Lago in Nicaragua, land that was once cattle pasture is now a living forest. Grafted cacao grows under a canopy of shade trees, the soil is coming back to life, and the birds have returned. Xoco Gourmet always knew the land was worth more than its harvest. Together we put it on record, and now we are taking it to new land.

  • 110,000grafted cacao trees
  • 40+shade and companion tree species
  • 234bird species recorded where cattle once grazed
  • 18plots digitised, with 19 field stations and test areas

Climbing the steps.One hectare at a time.

  1. DONE 01

    Natural Asset

    Value Assessment

    Every plot at El Lago mapped plot by plot, with a scoreboard of asset value and one baseline for trees, soil, carbon and wildlife, where there used to be notebooks and memory.

    SCOREBOARD · BASELINE
  2. LIVE 02

    Grow

    Monitor and Secure

    More from every hectare without depleting soil, water or forest. Satellites, radar and soil sensors catch drought, fire and canopy loss early. EUDR due diligence is being built with the outgrowers. See part 2.

    EUDR PER SHIPMENT
  3. NOW 03

    Scale

    Output and Impact

    With a grow model proven at El Lago, Xoco is taking it to new land: 500 to 1,000 ha of private land in Guatemala, then a planned 1,000 to 2,000 ha in Colombia. Same method, same data model, and a fresh baseline for every new hectare.

  4. NEXT 04

    Audit

    Certification and Compliance

    Traceability from plot to shipment, starting with Xoco's outgrowers. See part 2.

  5. THE GOAL 05

    Natural Capital

    Returns and Impact

    Carbon, timber and biodiversity booked as accounts, losses as well as gains. Each gain counted once and travelling with the cacao.

▲ Every partnership starts at step 1

Cacao under shade trees at El Lago, Nicaragua.
“If you can document what is actually happening on the farm, you can build much more realistic financial models. That makes it easier to attract investment.”
Frank Homann, founder and CEO, Xoco Gourmet

Live today: mapping, dashboard and monitoring at El Lago. In progress: new land in Guatemala and calibration of carbon data against field plots.

Show us your land See where to start

CASE 2 · XOCO OUTGROWERS · EUDR AND AUDIT

300 small farms.One shared record.

Around 300 smallholder outgrowers in Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala grow cacao for Xoco Gourmet, most of it under shade trees on small family plots. Xoco pays them 30% or more above the market price. To keep selling into the EU, every one of those plots now has to be mapped, checked and traceable. We are building that record with them, farm by farm, without extra paperwork for each farmer.

  • ~300smallholder outgrowers
  • 3countries: Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala
  • 30%+above market price paid to farmers
  • 31.12.2020EUDR cut off date every plot is checked against

From plot to shipment.Deforestation free, on record.

EUDR PER SHIPMENT · STEP 2 · GROW

  1. 1

    Map every plot. Geolocation and polygon for each farm, collected with the farmer on the ground.

  2. 2

    Check the forest history. Satellite records back to 31 December 2020 show each plot is deforestation free, with alerts if anything changes.

  3. 3

    Document legality. Land rights and permits in one register, organised by Xoco so farmers don't carry the paperwork alone.

  4. 4

    Export before shipping. A due diligence export ready for the buyer before the cacao leaves the port.

NEXT

04

Audit

Certification and Compliance

Once the record holds, it goes to independent audit. Each lot then carries a product passport with QR, every claim is checked against the evidence, and buyers get ESG data they can use in their own reporting.

The farmer's data stays theirs

Each farm's map and records belong to the farmer and the cooperative. We provide the analysis.

The buyer stays the buyer

We build the evidence behind the relationship between Xoco and its farmers, nothing more.

The forest gets counted

The same maps show the shade trees and standing forest on each farm: value that can later support a better price.

Ripe cacao pods.
“If you want to sell into the European market you must be able to prove where the product comes from. That kind of traceability will be very difficult to manage with traditional systems like spreadsheets.”
Frank Homann, founder and CEO, Xoco Gourmet

Status October 2026: first outgrower farm, El Tronco, mapped and monitored. Mapping of the other farms has started. In progress: legality documentation and the first EUDR due diligence exports. Audit follows when the record is complete.

Map your cooperative's plots See how EUDR works