Mars recently announced that by 2020 it will be sourcing all of its cocoa from sustainable sourcing. In agreement with Rainforest Alliance and other global certification bodies, Mars will grant that all of its cocoa beans come from farms granting minimum wages to farmers, water conservation and biodiversity-friendly pest management. The first brand to go sustainable in the short term will be Galaxy, followed in a second moment by all the others, like Snickers, Twix and M&Ms.

Mars choice goes beyond doing something “good” and it primarily makes business sense. To maintain the soil as healthy as possible, for example, is crucial to the company’s future and is a clear answer to the last three years global cocoa deficits and warnings that production is reaching its upper limits.

 ”How can you expect to keep extracting out of soil if you don’t put something in?” - declared Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science and external research for Mars. “We want to be in business in 100 years. You don’t spend money like this short term. We’re thinking about these actions for the grandchildren of the owners.”

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