Cocoa farmer full of beans
Green-powered grower has plans for Aussie-made chocolate
AN East Trinity cocoa grower has big plans to tap into an untouched market in Australia.
Laurence Marmara turned to cocoa about six years ago after noticing a drop in the sugar cane industry.
He now has more than 40,000 cocoa trees at his property, about 20,000 of which will start producing fruit for the first time next year.
To keep up with demand and to fill a gap in the market for Australian grown and manufactured cocoa products, Mr Marmara is working towards setting up factory at his property.
“For the time being, we will be sticking with just making cocoa powder and cocoa butter because there is no Australian cocoa powder, no Australian cocoa butter,” he said.
“Instead of us making our chocolate straight up, I want to service the industry.
“No matter who you are, if you’re making chocolate you’re going to need cocoa powder and cocoa butter.
“The business plan that we have is if we do that first before we make chocolate bars, we’ll be able to sustain chocolate making.”
Passionate about sustainable farming, Mr Marmara said he would keep all operations off the grid.
He has also created a oneof-a-kind cocoa pod splitter that runs off electric motors instead of hydraulics.
“It will all be solar, but a generator will be my backup,” he said.
“I will also be using that solar system to irrigate all the farm so we will be 99.9 per cent running off renewable energy.”
Mr Marmara said sticking to renewable energy would help keep running costs down and the cost of his product down.
He said he also planned to hire at least five locals to assist in the factory and out in the paddock.
Mr Marmara’s chocolate has already been noticed at a national level, with his 85 per cent dark chocolate bar recently ranked among the best in the country.
The cocoa used for the chocolate was free from emulsifiers and refined sugars.
He has also been selling beans from his first fruiting trees to chocolate maker Origin Chocolate, and to the United States.
NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE, IF YOU’RE MAKING CHOCOLATE YOU’RE GOING TO NEED COCOA POWDER AND COCOA BUTTER