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

Fri Nov 12 11:46:32 CST 2010

Actually, the Theobroma genome is not small,  but most cacao germplasm 
has not contributed to cacao improvement because its relationship to 
cultivated selections was poorly understood.  Now, researchers, using 
cacao from all over the world, have found enough genetic diversity to 
realign Theobroma’s family tree. They've broken it up into 10 major 
genetic groups, instead of the commonly accepted three groups. That 
means breeders are now able to increase the diversity of cacao tree 
stocks by crossbreeding among the 10 groups, not just the three.

Here are some related articles

A PLoS article here: 
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0003311
although I was surprised to see it's two years old.

And a layperson's USDA article here: 
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/2008/081203.htm

Jennifer Chesworth wrote:
> 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 
> edevistate 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 11:27 AM, Jean Giblette <hfg at capital.net 
> <mailto: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 <mailto:moonbranch at earthlink.net>
>>
>>     www.moonbranch.com <http://www.moonbranch.com>
>>                  &
>>     www.localharvest.org/store/M16074
>>     <http://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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>
>     Jean Giblette, Owner
>     HIGH FALLS GARDENS
>     Box 125 Philmont NY 12565
>     518-672-7365, hfg at capital.net <mailto:hfg at capital.net>
>     www.highfallsgardens.net <http://www.highfallsgardens.net>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>                                                        
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