Cocoa Conversations

Green Templeton College recently hosted Cocoa Conversations, an event in three acts exploring the realities behind one of the world’s most familiar commodities. Bringing together students, academics, members of the local community, and a visiting cocoa producer from Ghana, the programme combined discussion, food, and music to open up conversations around Fair Trade, sustainability, and global value chains.

Organiser Giorgia Dal Fabbro (DPhil International Development, 2024) reports:

At the centre of the series was Mr Felix Tetteh, a 28-year-old Ghanaian cocoa producer and Fairtrade Ambassador, who travelled to Oxford to share his experience of cocoa farming and Fair Trade advocacy. Across the different events, Felix spoke not only about the practical realities of cocoa production, but also about what it means to “feed the world” under climate pressures, market uncertainty, and increasingly complex regulatory frameworks that often shift responsibility and compliance costs onto farmers.

The first event, Brains on Beans, took place in the EP Abraham Lecture Theatre and brought Felix into conversation with Prof Alex Nicholls (Saïd Business School), Dr Mark Hirons (Environmental Change Institute), and Dr Tonya Lander (Lecturer in Biology, Christ Church). The dialogue moved between lived experience and academic perspectives, exploring what makes cocoa production possible, how value is created and distributed across supply chains, and what the future of cocoa production might look like.

The conversation then continued into the second act, Beans to Banquet, a Fair Trade themed college formal. The dinner incorporated Fair Trade and locally sourced ingredients, with table flyers tracing the origins and stories behind some of the products served. During the evening, Felix addressed the college community, reflecting on what Fair Trade has meant within his own experience and speaking about the importance of recognising the people behind global commodities.

The evening concluded with Beans and Beats, an Afrobeats night in the Stables Bar organised in collaboration with the GCR. The event extended the conversations of the day into a more informal setting over music and Fair Trade drinks.

Across its three acts, Cocoa Conversations sought to create a space in which practitioner experience and academic inquiry could genuinely speak to one another. By bringing a cocoa producer directly into conversation with researchers, students, and members of the wider public, the events highlighted the importance of engaging with the lived realities behind the subjects that universities often study in more abstract terms.

The programme was kindly supported by the Green Templeton College Annual Fund and EDI Forum, and was organised in collaboration with the college and the GCR, as well as the Oxford Fair Trade Coalition, and a range of students, Fellows, and community partners who contributed to making the event possible.