Monthly Newsletter November 2023 |
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Read about our news and latest updates. |
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Para leer el boletín en español haga clic en el botón. To read the Spanish version, click on the button. | | |
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‘A Project of Reinvention’: Cultivating Puerto Rico’s Cacao Industry |
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Jeanmarie Chocolat Uses Sustainable Practices, Educates Others |
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Aguada, Puerto Rico — After a life-changing diagnosis ended María’s career as a high school teacher and Juan closed his business, the couple began planning their next step. They envisioned a new future that focused on the untapped potential of Puerto Rico’s cacao industry. Juan Echevarría and María Méndez decided to grow cacao on their land in Puerto Rico’s northwest, establishing Jeanmarie Chocolat in 2009. Juan saw cacao as an ideal crop: exportable, distinctive, and suitable for their existing land. “It was a project of reinvention,” Juan said, noting that he didn’t have any prior knowledge of agriculture. “I had to learn from zero.” |
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Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat uses environmentally-friendly practices in its pursuit of top-quality Puerto Rican chocolate. |
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In the years since then, Juan and María’s farm, named Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat, has flourished. The farm now serves as a model for others. Juan has dedicated himself to using and teaching sustainable growing practices as he works to reinvigorate the island's cacao industry. Juan and María started small, beginning their project with about 2.5 acres. Today, the farm has expanded to cultivating cacao on 35 cuerdas, or approximately 34 acres. In addition to producing cacao, they also welcome visitors to the farm through agrotourism and grow a wide variety of other crops, including pineapple, papaya, and coffee, among many others. Juan also leads educational workshops on the farm. |
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“I see cacao as this attraction that gets people excited about the countryside and brings them back to the farm,” Juan said. "But once they're on the farm, they won't just plant cacao; they will plant other things, too. And this will strengthen food security." Chocolate made with Puerto Rican cacao has gained international recognition, taking home a bronze medal in the 2021-22 Americas Bean-to-Bar and Craft Chocolatier Competition, among other accolades. At an international level, connoisseurs and chocolatiers “recognize that Puerto Rico has a unique cacao,” Juan said. |
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The mYo team visited Juan Echevarría and María Méndez at Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat in October 2023. |
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During the Hispanic Farmers and Agricultural Professionals Symposium in October 2023, the mano-Y-ola team visited Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat. Through his cacao cultivation demonstration, they experienced Juan's passion firsthand, sampled fresh cacao seeds, and enjoyed María's homemade chocolate delicacies. |
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Juan Echevarría shows a flower from a cacao tree. |
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At Hacienda Jeanmarie Chocolat, Juan uses sustainable practices such as agroforestry, which assists farmers in diversifying their crops and income sources and has environmental benefits. He has also shaped the hillsides into erosion-preventing terraces, and he allows the fallen leaves of the cacao trees to remain on the ground, creating a natural mulch and recycling nutrients. “We use our farm as a model to show visitors, people who are going to start, what their farm would look like in the future. How they should develop it,” Juan said. “Now what is needed is that Puerto Rico really starts to grow, to make the most of all this industry's potential.” |
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To learn about mYo’s 5th annual Hispanic Farmers and Agricultural Professionals Symposium, check out our highlight video from the event! |
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You can also find the complete videos of the Symposium’s panelists and presenters on our mano-Y-ola YouTube channel. | | |
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Next month, we’ll have a special holiday issue about the highlights of our year. |
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This newsletter was written by Courtney Columbus, reviewed by Adrian Parrott, Nolo Martínez, and Jessica Roqueburg, and produced by Patricia Morales. |
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About our company — mano-Y-ola (formerly known as Nolo Consulting, LLC) is a minority- and female-owned consulting firm specializing in work with minority and immigrant farmer communities, early childhood education programs, and leadership development. The company’s mission is to help each individual professional love what they do. |
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mano-Y-ola is currently conducting a survey of Hispanic forest landowners across the U.S. as part of the Hispanic Forest Landowners Outreach Program. The survey is available in Spanish and English. To learn more about mano-Y-ola’s survey and to participate, visit: mano-Y-ola está llevando a cabo una encuesta de dueños de bosque hispanos en los Estados Unidos como parte del Programa de Alcance para Hispanos Propietarios de Bosques. La encuesta está disponible en español y en inglés. Para aprender más sobre la encuesta de mano-Y-ola y para participar, visite: |
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Check Out Past Monthly Newsletters and Spanish Versions |
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Vea nuestros boletines mensuales anteriores y versiones en español |
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