Indisputably the wider cocoa industry has found slavery of both adults and children to be endemic . At Islands, we do things differently. By personally managing our farms and directly sourcing from farmers, we can eliminate any possibility of slavery in our cocoa supply chain.

St Vincent and the Grenadines has ratified all key international conventions on child labour and the government has established laws and regulations related to child labour. The Bureau of Standards in St Vincent certified in 2022 that our cocoa farms fully comply with national regulations with regard… workers age’ and ‘policy for the prohibition of child labour. We have never come across an incidence of child labour on St Vincent.

Whilst the wider St Vincent economy is relatively poor, we have equally never come across an incidence of forced labour. You can read more about how each and every one of our farmers received Fair Pay here.

Our UK Islands team personally visit our Dominican Republic farms a minimum of three times a year. During these visits we visit and speak directly with farmers to ensure that rigorous protocol is in line pertaining to who is working on the farms and how they are paid.

St Vincent is lush with tropical rainforests and preserving this rare and natural environment is at the heart of our agricultural practices. All of our farms are GPS mapped outside of clearly defined forest boundaries and water catchment areas.

As a small country and community, any attempt by a farmer - ours or other - to cut protected rainforest would be immediately reported to the authorities within hours and the perpetrators would face severe penalties.

We have never participated in deforestation in St Vincent.

In the Dominican Republic, all of the farms we work with are GPS mapped outside of forest boundaries. The nearby forests are heavily protected, bordering a national nature reserve renowned for populations of rare bird species.

We grow and source cocoa The Islands Way: flavour-first farming,
respect for people and the land, and total transparency. From our own
farms in St Vincent, to our neighbours in the Dominican Republic and
the Amazonian soils of Peru, our single origin cocoas have been selected for their
high quality, assured ethics and sustainable practices. Building long
term partnerships and collaborations to grow cocoa The Islands Way.