Participation in the Innovation Forum Amsterdam

On 13 May, our company had the honour of representing Weinrich and our subsidiary Divine Chocolate UK at the Innovation Forum Amsterdam ‘The Future of Food and Beverage’ on the panel ‘Farmers first: What's the right balance between Sustainability and Productivity at farm level?’. We presented a video message from Solomon Boateng, Managing Director of our partner cooperative Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana.

Together with Solomon, our Sustainability Officer Jelena Radeljić spoke about our measures aimed at supporting the farmers in our supply chains and making the social and ecological conditions of cocoa cultivation resilient and sustainable in the long term. Kuapa Kokoo's ecological and social projects, which are co-financed by Divine, were particularly emphasised.

The conference, which was attended by sustainability managers from large and small international companies, provided us with valuable insights and intensive discussions. We exchanged views on how companies can be crisis-proofed in the face of the challenges of increasing extreme weather events and rising sustainability requirements.

We were able to learn important lessons from the event for us as a chocolate manufacturer and our day-to-day business. We have recognised how essential it is to further strengthen our sustainability strategies and take proactive measures to support farmers. The discussions on innovative approaches to increasing productivity while improving environmental conditions will help us to further optimise our own projects and make our supply chains even more resilient.

From left to right: Enda Buckley (director of sustainability) from Carbery Group, Jelena Radeljić from Ludwig Weinrich GmbH & Co. KG, Robert Horster (global sustainability lead, agricultural supply chain and food ingredients) from Cargill.