2024 Conference Guest Speakers

Owner, President 

Lydgate Farms, HCCA

Instagram: @kauaiwill @lydgatefarms

Opening Remarks, Ag-Tourism Panel: Chocolate Tourism

Will Lydgate owns and operates Lydgate Farms, a cacao farm on Kauai, where his family has been since the 19th century. Lydgate Farms brings together the business of agriculture, value-added products, ag-tourism, and hospitality into a potent hybrid that is the number #1 rated tour on TripAdvisor on Kauai, and has earned multiple Top 50 Best in the World designations from the Cacao of Excellence — and it’s coveted Gold Award.

Will believes the best way to influence the world is at the level of the individual. Lydgate Farms mission is to change the way the world tastes chocolate, one person at a time, one bar at a time. Will believes he can leverage the revenue stream of the famed Hawaii visitor industry to support high value agriculture, create world class products and experiences, and support the prosperity of his team and the health Kauai’s land and people.

As president of the Hawaii Chocolate and Cacao Association, Will wants to make Hawaii the global center of excellence in cacao quality, research and education, and chocolate tourism.

Will Lydgate is also a retired musician — a bass and stringed instrument player and producer/engineer. He has shared the stage with musicians such as Taj Mahal, Bobby Weir, Jack Johnson, Billy Kreautzmann, Cas Haley, and Chris Berry. A graduate Summa Cum Laude of Berklee College of Music, Will holds a Master of Music degree. Music has never left him, so look for him playing bass, just when you least expect it.

Craft Quality Cacao Producer

Vale Potumuju - Baianí Chocolates - Bean to Bar Brazil

Instagram: @tutaaquino

Growing cocoa in Brazil: An outside perspective

Tuta was born in Bahia and spent his first 10 years on a cocoa farm. His teen years were spent in Brazil’s largest metropolis, São Paulo. In 1981 he left for New York where studied to become an Audio Engineer. He decided to stay and made NYC his home for 20 years, working in the music business, running his award-winning Prime Cuts Studios in Manhattan, working with artists such as Madonna, Janet Jackson and Duran Duran, among others. Back to Brazil in 2000, he continued in music with his DOREMIX Productions, serving the national Radio and TV networks. In a shift back to his roots and since 2012, Tuta has dedicated his time to rebuilding his partner Juliana’s farm, the cacao origin they named Vale Potumuju, that was devastated by the Witch's Broom disease in the 1990s. To add extra value to the cacao beans produced there, Tuta invested in the local and  international Bean to Bar market. In 2018, Tuta encouraged Juliana to create the chocolate recipes that are now part of the award-winning Baianí Chocolates, their Tree to Bar brand. Baianí is one of the co-founder brands of the Bean to Bar Brasil Association, where Tuta currently occupies the Vice-presidency.

Chocolate Maker 

Baianí Chocolates - Vale Potumuju

Instagram: @julianaaquino

juliana@baiani.com.br

Growing cocoa in Brazil: An outside perspective

A Bahia native, Juliana lived in the state capital Salvador, where she found her calling as
a singer. She performed with most of Bahia’s best artists, like Gilberto Gil, Ivete Sangalo and at many Carnaval events nationwide. She married her childhood friend Tuta and moved to NYC where she lived for 5 years, performing at important venues. After returning to Brazil and releasing two solo albums with worldwide success in the Bossa Nova market, Juliana turned her attention back to Cacao and her father’s farm Fazenda Santa Rita (now called Vale Putumuju). She is a culinary school graduate and through experimenting with Bean to Bar chocolate made from Vale Potumuju cacao she discovered a new passion and developed award winning recipes to launch Baianí Chocolates, a Tree to Bar Brazilian brand that uses references from local cuisine and ingredients to complement the sensory values of Vale Potumuju Cacao. She also has a Level 3 degree from the IICCT, where she honed her skills as a professional chocolate taster. Besides being the chocolate maker at Baianí, she runs courses and tastings, teaching about cacao and all aspects of Bean to Bar Chocolate. 

Chief Sourcing Officer

Dandelion Chocolate

Instagram: @gdalesandre

State of the Industry Address

Greg has a 30 year history in Cacao, Chocolate, and Technology. Graduating from Brown University with a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, he spent the first part of his career working in a variety of startups in Engineering, Consulting, and Project Management capacities leading him to working as a Group Product Manager at Google. Starting in 2012 Greg shifted his work to Chocolate as the Chief Sourcing Officer for Dandelion Chocolate. In that capacity he’s worked with cocoa producers all over the world as well as helped build out Dandelion’s production and business. More recently he has started a private consultancy called Sourcerer Solutions where he’s working with cocoa producers all over the world. He has visited over 30 cocoa growing countries and hundreds of farms and fermentaries. He’s co-author of “Making Chocolate: Bean to Bar to S’more”, occasional co-host on Craft Chocolate TV, and Producer for the Craft Chocolate Experience San Francisco.

Lecturer / President of the Board

Harvard University / Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute

Instagram: @chocoinstitute

State of the Industry Address

Carla D. Martin, PhD (she/her/hers) is a Lecturer and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies in African and African American Studies at Harvard University. Her work as a socially engaged anthropologist is currently focused on the ethics of labor in cacao and chocolate, and before that on the politics of language and music in Cabo Verde and its diaspora. She lectures widely and has taught extensively in African and African American Studies, critical food studies, social anthropology, and ethnomusicology, and has received numerous awards in recognition of excellence in teaching and research. Additionally, she founded and continues to collaborate with the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to reducing inequality and information asymmetry throughout the cacao and chocolate value chain. This work has brought her into community with workers at cacao farms and chocolate factories in dozens of countries.

Associate Dean of Research

College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR)

wbowen@hawaii.edu

State of the Industry Address

Walter Bowen is the Associate Dean and Associate Director of Research in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (UHM), where he works with faculty, staff, and students engaged in a wide array of research programs including agriculture, natural resources, nutrition, food science, animal health, and resilient families and communities. Walter has more than 30 years of experience in higher education and international agricultural research, including research administration, project management, participatory research with smallholder farmers, human and institutional capacity development, climate change adaptation, and research to develop soil and crop growth simulation models. Prior to joining UHM, Walter directed international agricultural programs at the University of Florida. In addition, he has lived and worked in several countries across eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America while carrying out research and development activities with Cornell University, the International Potato Center (CIP), the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC), and the U.S. Peace Corps. Walter earned his MS and PhD degrees in agronomy from Cornell University.

Farm Manager

Lydgate Farms

farm@lydgatefarms.com

Ag Panel: Cacao Across the Islands

Kailey is the farm manager at Lydgate Farms on Kauai. She received her Bachelor of Science in wildlife biology from Colorado State University and began a career in conservation. In 2021 she joined Lydgate Farms as an agricultural researcher and farmer. Kailey was promoted in 2023 to farm manager where she currently manages 46 acres, over 3,000 cacao trees, a crew of eight, and oversees the farm’s thriving vanilla vines and bee hives. Outside of the farm, Kailey enjoys canoe paddling and surfing.

Operations Manager and Senior Consultant

Kamananui Estate and Cacao Services, Inc.

maxwell@cacaoservices.com

Ag Panel: Cacao Across the Islands

Max is a cacao agronomist, University of Hawaii alumn, and Returned Peace Corps Volunteer with international and local experience in cacao ranging from breeding, propagation, farm design to post-harvest processing and chocolate making. Max's favorite place on the farm is the nursery, and he enjoys coffee and cigars when cacao is not looking.