GROW Colombia is a four-year bioscience research and capacity building project to preserve, restore and manage biodiversity through responsible innovation in Colombia. The project will conclude at the end of 2021. This multidisciplinary initiative is funded by the UK Government’s Global Challenge Research Fund and involves a wide, international collaboration of academic and civil society partners united in a shared vision to conserve biodiversity, achieve sustainable prosperity and secure lasting peace in Colombia. The project has a strong socio-economic component involving the University of Sydney, Universidad de Los Andes and led by the University of East Anglia. In the GROW Colombia project, we apply components of a toolbox we developed to selected policy areas in the agricultural context as one component of the bio-economy transition: 1. Cattle ranching activities and the impacts on biodiversity, with a particular emphasis on deforestation impacts, and the benefits/costs related to a switch away from extensive ranching towards cattle regimes within a silvo-pastoral setting (a form of agroforestry characterised by a combination of trees, shrubs, forage resources and animals in the same agricultural system). 2. Production of cacao for high quality chocolate, including an assessment of the national and international potential market demand and farmer production opportunities and constraints.