Shared Goodness: Hershey’s Reforestation Projects in Mexico

As a Hershey Ambassador, I had the chance to visit Hershey, Pennsylvania and learn about the iconic American company. While the brand was founded decades ago by an American great, Milton Hershey, the company has been hard at work on modern-day initiatives to help our global community.

The Shared Goodness of Hershey Cocoa Initiatives

While there, the ambassadors met with some of the top Hershey executives responsible for the social responsibility projects, covered by their umbrella campaign called Shared Goodness. Their energy and excitement for creating sustainable global practices was infectious. These campaigns are focused on issues that affect global cocoa farming: reforestation, cocoa sustainability and offering smaller farmers access to some of Hershey’s top-notch farming knowledge, equipment and practices.

The Mexico Cocoa Project

In learning about Hershey’s Cocoa Sustainability Strategy, I was excited to learn more about the Mexico Cocoa Project. Cocoa was first domesticated and used as a food about 1500 B.C. in the tropical lowlands of South Central Mexico by an ancient civilization called the Olmecs. Since then, however, many things have changed.

Launched in 2012, the Mexico Cocoa Project is a 10-year, $2.8 million initiative led by The Hershey Company and a Mexican cocoa supplier to distribute hundreds of thousands of disease-tolerant cocoa trees in order to restore more than 1,000 hectares of cocoa farmland in the Chiapas region of Southern Mexico. The initiative will also provide training in farm renovation and practices for good agriculture. The goals of the Mexico Cocoa Project are aimed at improving the livelihood of more than 1,000 small-scaled cocoa farmers by increasing family income and establishing better farming practices. Hershey understands the importance these small farmers have on the development of sustainable cocoa and the impact the project’s success can have on Hershey’s business.

So, what does all this have to do with you… the lover of chocolate and all things candied? Well, for one, you should know that Hershey is committed to being a transparent member of American business. In not so many words, that’s what they want us to know. They hear our concerns – as consumers and mothers – on sustainability, the global economy and how the products we feed our kids are made.

I urge you to check out the links I’ve included in this post to learn more about the cocoa initiatives currently underway. And for any questions you might have that are unanswered, send them over! I’ll do my best to get them directed to someone who can answer you.

Disclosure: This blog post and my trip to Hershey, PA were sponsored by The Hershey Company as part of my participation in their Food Ambassador program. All thoughts and opinions are my own.