The first time we visited John Adamnor’s farm was in 2019, when ACM was launching the series, ‘I am a cocoa farmer’ for ConfectioneryNews, with Tony Myers.

At the time, John was rehabilitating his farm and had just planted new cocoa seedlings. We had to be careful not to damage them as we walked through the farm.

Today, those trees are fully mature and producing cocoa pods for harvest. When we visited John in March to walk the entirety of his farm boundary, she no longer was nervous about damaging the trees. They were taller than us.

Farms change, and farmers change. A farmer may have different priorities from year to year. They may cultivate different crops, or replant trees, or agree with a neighbor on something that affects adjoining plots of land.

The EUDR requirement is to capture polygon maps of farms, once. How can it be possible to truly monitor deforestation with such a requirement?

We see trees now. What do we do?

Our team at Forests & Farmers First EUDR compliance solutions were looking the other day at a satellite layer of one polygon from a cocoa farm in East Africa.

In the year 2020, it looked like bare ground. By 2024, it was a lush farm with different tree species visible, even with the relatively low resolution.

We debated how to categorize this change. While it was clear to our human eyes that trees now existed where before there were none, it wasn’t that straightforward an interpretation for EUDR compliance purposes.

We hope this True Costs of EUDR series has been as enlightening for you as it was for us, when we were there, walking the farm boundary with John.

To see a farm from the farm itself, instead of on a computer screen, relying on layers of technology, brought home the fact that we are dealing with the real world - real people, real trees, real climates, real change.

We hope that the people in the European Commission and at every customs authority policing the EU border will take note of these realities, as they begin in a few short months to interpret all the data coming their way.

Orijin and its partners ACM, Aya Data, and Demeter Holdings offer full-service EUDR compliance solutions through Forests & Farmers First. We go into the work with our eyes open to rural realities, the challenges and complexities involved, and the priority of protecting farmer livelihoods. To learn more about our compliance solutions, email salla@orijin.io.

(Article from our partner African Cocoa Marketplace )