Charley's Cocoa Trees at our Mt Edna Plantation
Recently Charley’s co-founder and Chair of the Australian Cocoa Council, Chris Jahnke spoke with Agrifutures about the future of the Australian Cocoa industry in light of a five-year Australian Cocoa Strategic RD&E Plan being funded. For more than a decade AgriFutures Australia has been supporting investigations into the development of a stable cocoa industry in Far North Queensland.
Consumer Demand
As the consumer demand for chocolate and chocolate continues to grow steadily over the past 10 years there is great potential for Australian cocoa to replace some of the almost $700 million that is imported into Australian annually. With climate change and the effects of the pandemic still being felt on global supply chains the need for a greater domestic supply increase further.
The Strategic RD&E Plan identifies three key priorities – profitable cocoa-growing systems; quality and differentiated Australian-grown cocoa for premium markets; and a thriving Australian cocoa industry.
Chris is optimistic and has strong hopes for the future of the cocoa industry in Australia.
“Conditions in the wet tropics region are ideal for growing cocoa and there’s potential for around 1000ha of cocoa to produced in this area but at the moment there’s only around 30.
“10 years from now I’d like to see at least 500ha of cocoa growing in far north Queensland and the industry being recognised as a viable part of Australia’s agricultural sector.”
Charley's home in Mission Beach FNQ
Further education needed
Chris and Charley’s have received support and advice from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (DPI) since 2012 when he first planted cocoa.
“We conducted months of research to confirm that tree to bar chocolate manufacturing was possible and the DPI were critical to us gaining that confidence to take the leap,” Chris notes.
Chris Jahnke and Charley's Co-Founder Lynn Jahnke on the Plantation.Agrifutures: the future potential of Australian cocoa production
Chris feels a sticking point for those looking to get into cocoa farmer is understanding the difference between growing cocoa and manufacturing chocolate. Potential farmers require more education and advice to make the jump to growing a cocoa crop.
“Cocoa isn’t saleable in its natural state as a crop, you need to do something more with it to make it edible – it’s not like a banana or an avocado,” he explained.
“However…there’s no need for the cocoa grower to also be the chocolate maker.” Manufactures like Charley’s are vying to purchase as much of the cocoa fruit as possible in order to meet demand – we are currently unable to grow as much as we need at our Mt Edna Plantation!
Read the full Agrifuture's article here