[MPWG] In Twenty Years Chocolate Will Be A Rare Delicacy

[Jennifer Chesworth]

Jean, in the case of cacao you are mistaken.  Several years ago, chocolate
manufacturers experienced a crisis when they discovered the stock of almost
ALL global plantations (and small holdings) of cacao were descended from the
seed of a single cacao plant brought to Martinique by the French in 1660.
All plantations were similarly resilient or not to any number of diseases,
and a single plague could devastate the entire industry. "Maintaining
resilience" of cacao requires tissue culture, something most small holders
cannot achieve on their own.


On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 11:47 AM, Jennifer Chesworth
<cafesombra at gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
> On Fri, Nov 12, 2010 at 11:27 AM, Jean Giblette <hfg at capital.net> wrote:
>
>>  Thanks, Robin.
>>
>> Quoted from the Independent article:
>>
>> "Despite price rises on the trading floor, precious little reaches the
>> smallholders who make up 95 per cent of growers, according to Mr. Lass, a
>> former Cadburys trader and ethical sourcing advisor who has co-authored a
>> book on the cocoa industry.
>>
>> "These smallholders earn just 80 cents a day," he says. "So there is no
>> incentive to replant trees when they die off, and to wait up to five years
>> for a new crop, and no younger generation around to do the replanting."
>> Note the main thrust of these articles, which is to celebrate the genome
>> sequencing in hopes that a genetic engineering "solution" will be found,
>> when all we have to do is incentivize the farmers to replant on a regular
>> basis and to maintain/enhance the resilience of the small holdings.
>>
>> These articles portray the microcosm of what's wrong with medicinal plant
>> production worldwide:  the growers are neither adequately compensated nor
>> rewarded for good stewardship.  At the same time, industrial ag (including
>> its ultimate manifestation, genetic engineering) displaces the growers.
>>  These dynamics are based on social constructs, and social constructs can be
>> revised.
>>
>> Meanwhile, Mother Nature is waiting to reward us with chocolate and all
>> the abundance of the fertile earth.  All we have to do is follow her lead
>> and cooperate with her.  Why is this so hard for us to understand?
>>
>> Jean
>>
>>
>> On Nov 12, 2010, at 10:50 AM, MoonBranch Botanicals wrote:
>>
>> Chocolate Black Hole; Chocolate consumption is increasing faster than
>> production, meaning the future will probably be less chocolaty....
>>
>>
>> http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-11/future-chocolate-will-be-rare-delicacy-analysts-say
>>
>>
>> http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/chocolate-worth-its-weight-in-gold-2127874.html
>>
>>
>> http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/sweet-breakthrough-scientists-led-candy-company-sequence-chocolate-genome
>>
>>
>>
>> Robin Alton Suggs
>> MoonBranch Botanicals
>> 5294 Yellow Creek Road
>> Robbinsville, North Carolina 28771
>> USA
>>
>> Telephone: 828.479.2788
>> Email: moonbranch at earthlink.net
>>
>> www.moonbranch.com
>>              &
>> www.localharvest.org/store/M16074
>>
>> Member:
>> Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project; Farm Partner
>> Green Products Alliance
>> North Carolina Consortium on Natural Medicines
>> North Carolina Goodness Grows/NCDA&CS
>> Southwestern North Carolina RC&D Council
>> United Plant Savers
>>
>> “If people let government decide what foods they eat and what medicines
>> they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of
>> those who live under tyranny.”
>>
>> - Thomas Jefferson
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
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>> Disclaimer
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>> reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The
>> information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a
>> substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific medical
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>> discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by the individual reader
>> and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts do not reflect any
>> official opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation Alliance.
>>
>>
>>
>>  Jean Giblette, Owner
>> HIGH FALLS GARDENS
>> Box 125 Philmont NY 12565
>> 518-672-7365, hfg at capital.net
>> www.highfallsgardens.net
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>
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>>
>> To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to
>> MPWG-request at lists.plantconservation.org with the word "unsubscribe" in
>> the subject line.
>>
>> Disclaimer
>> Any advice given on this list regarding diagnosis or treatments etc.
>> reflects ONLY the opinion of the individual who posts the message. The
>> information contained in posts is not intended nor implied to be a
>> substitute for professional medical advice relative to your specific medical
>> condition or question. All medical and other healthcare information that is
>> discussed on this list should be carefully reviewed by the individual reader
>> and their qualified healthcare professional. Posts do not reflect any
>> official opinions or positions of the Plant Conservation Alliance.
>>
>>
>
>
>
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