Driving Regeneration Through Chocolate

Journey To Regeneration · Nov 18, 2025 · 29m

In this episode, Professor Chris Marquis is joined by Keith Bearden, CEO of Alter Eco, a pioneering chocolate company that supports smallholder cacao farmers—typically working 12–15 acre plots in Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and Peru— in transitioning away from risky monocultures toward dynamic agroforestry systems. By interplanting cacao with limes, mangoes, passionfruit, avocados, plantains, and even new coconut plantings in the DR, these farmers are building diversified incomes and more resilient ecosystems: deeper roots that tap groundwater in droughts, richer soils, cooler canopy…