We are Johnny Cashew

55% of the global cashew production grows in Africa. A staggering 88%* of those are transported to Asia for shelling and then shipped to Europe for consumption – an unnecessary and carbon-emitting detour of 12.000 km.

25% of cashews break when shelled. Broken or scorched cashews find their way to the market at heavy discounts despite their perfect quality and taste.

Consumers and retailers in Europe have no awareness of the misconduct in the cashew chain. Because they don’t know, they cannot take responsibility.

1. Carbon reduction

We process cashews where they grow and offset what we cannot prevent. We have established a zero-carbon cashew chain – based on a carbon life cycle analysis of the Roundtable of Sustainable Biofuels.

2. Whole harvest

We buy whole harvests, including broken cashews. We use large broken nuts in our main products. The smaller bits & pieces are used in by-products we make with our partners (e.g., cheese, milk, ice cream, and hummus).

3. Fair prices

By processing locally we bring back economic added value to Africa/ Tanzania. 

We pay farmers a premium, which helps them in earning a living income. We have developed our Living Income Reference Pricing model together with Fairtrade International and the University of Wageningen. We are working on a Living Wage with the Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH). 

4. Long-term cooperation

Through long-term commitments, we safeguard the sustainability of our local partners throughout the chain. 

5. Traceability 

Our cashews are traceable from cooperation all the way to the retailer (audited by Fairtrade), enabling us to take responsibility throughout the entire cashew chain.