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The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program

We, at Lindt & Sprüngli, oversee the chocolate making process from the selection of the cocoa beans to the production of the finished chocolate products – from “bean to bar”. High-quality cocoa is the heart of our chocolate. That is why we developed our own sustainability program: The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program.

Cocoa sustainability approach

Our aim for the responsible sourcing of cocoa is based on five principles, based on which we aim to address the most pressing challenges and highest salient sustainability risks in the cocoa supply chain: increasing the income and resilience of farming households, reducing the risk of child labor, and conserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems.

Our five principles are:

Pursuing long-term supplier partnerships
Deploying our own sustainability program
Establishing traceable and transparent supply chains
Continuous improvement based on monitoring and external verification
Working in partnerships and engaging in collective action through sector initiatives

Challenges in Cocoa Countries of Origin

In our cocoa producing countries, cocoa production faces deep-rooted challenges. Small farms, old and diseased cocoa trees, can result in low yields and not enough income for farmers and their families. Poor infrastructure and a lack of access to farming equipment makes production even more difficult. Finally, environmental challenges such as climate change and deforestation are impacting cocoa producing countries.

It is our priority to tackle these challenges and take responsibility for sustainable cocoa cultivation. That's why we developed our own sustainability program for cocoa - the Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program.

Our Farming Program

Responsible sourcing, especially of our cocoa, is of great concern to us. That is why Lindt & Sprüngli launched its own sustainability program for the sourcing of its cocoa in 2008: The Lindt & Sprüngli Farming Program. The Farming Program is aimed at three main outcomes: increasing the income and resilience of farming households, reducing the risk of child labor, and conserving biodiversity and natural ecosystems. We aim to achieve this by facilitating higher productivity of farms, farmer premiums, access to finance, diversified household incomes, community development and improved infrastructure, preservation of biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and reduced risk of child labor.

Since 2020, 100% of the cocoa beans we source have been traceable and externally verified by an independent third party, the Earthworm Foundation. Our goal is to source 100% of all our cocoa, i.e. also cocoa butter, cocoa powder and chocolate mass, through our own Farming Program or other sustainability programs by 2025 (in 2023, the figure was more than 72%).