Fairtrade International launches Plot Insights for coffee, cocoa cooperatives  

GLOBAL – Global nonprofit Fairtrade International has launched Plot Insights, a new digital platform aimed at helping coffee and cocoa cooperatives manage, analyse and securely share geolocation data as they prepare for stricter due diligence requirements under the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR). 

The EUDR requires companies placing products such as coffee and cocoa on the European market to demonstrate that they are free from deforestation. The regulation is scheduled to take effect from 30 December 2026, while micro and small enterprises will have until 30 June 2027 to comply. 

Under the new rules, importers will be required to provide geolocation data for every plot supplying products covered by the legislation as part of their due diligence obligations. 

Fairtrade International said Plot Insights represents “a major step towards a secure, consent-based approach to geolocation data management,” allowing cooperatives to retain ownership and control of their information while simplifying data sharing with trading partners. 

“Farmers are having to adopt new digital tools and map farm plots, which is an expensive burden in order to continue to be viable suppliers to the European market,” said Brenda Mariana Huerta García, Senior Advisor, Climate & Environment at Fairtrade International. 

“With Plot Insights, Fairtrade coffee and cocoa cooperatives have a free platform to check their geolocation data quality, receive deforestation risk analysis from Satelligence, and share data with their buyers, all built with cooperatives’ businesses in mind and to support our environmental goals to prevent deforestation,” she added. 

According to Fairtrade, cooperatives can upload geolocation information to the platform and receive immediate feedback on potential data errors and visualisation tools powered by nature technology company Satelligence. 

Beginning in October, Plot Insights will also enable cooperatives to share geolocation data with European exporters and importers through Fairtrade’s Fairtrace sales transaction platform. 

The organisation said cooperatives will be able to select individual plots and attach geolocation information, automatically converted into a format aligned with EU requirements, to sales contracts established between cooperatives, exporters and importers. 

Importers will then be able to download the information and use it when submitting the due diligence statements required under the EUDR. 

Fairtrade International said its regional producer networks, Fairtrade Africa, the Network of Asia & Pacific Producers (NAPP), and the Latin American and Caribbean Coordinator of Small Producers and Fair Trade Workers (CLAC), are currently supporting more than 800 Fairtrade-certified coffee and cocoa cooperatives in adopting Plot Insights and preparing for the regulation’s implementation. 

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