Posted on 11/17/2014 10:38:15 AM PST by Bettyprob
There's no easy way to say this: You're eating too much chocolate, all of you. And it's getting so out of hand that the world could be headed towards a potentially disastrous scenario if it doesn't stop.
Those are, roughly speaking, the words of two huge chocolate makers, Mars, Inc. and Barry Callebaut. And there's some data to back them up.
Chocolate deficits, whereby farmers produce less cocoa than the world eats, are becoming the norm. Already, we are in the midst of what could be the longest streak of consecutive chocolate deficits in more than 50 years. It also looks like deficits aren't just carrying over from year-to-year—the industry expects them to grow. Last year, the world ate roughly 70,000 metric tons more cocoa than it produced. By 2020, the two chocolate-makers warn that that number could swell to 1 million metric tons, a more than 14-fold increase; by 2030, they think the deficit could reach 2 million metric tons.
The problem is, for one, a supply issue. Dry weather in West Africa (specifically in the Ivory Coast and Ghana, where more than 70 percent of the world's cocoa is produced) has greatly decreased production in the region. A nasty fungal disease known as frosty pod hasn't helped either. The International Cocoa Organization estimates it has wiped out between 30 percent and 40 percent of global coca production. Because of all this, cocoa farming has proven a particularly tough business, and many farmers have shifted to more profitable crops, like corn, as a result.
Then there's the world's insatiable appetite for chocolate. China's growing love for the stuff is of particular concern. The Chinese are buying more and more chocolate each year. Still, they only consume per capita about 5 percent of what the average Western European eats.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
When prices rise enough, growers will start to produce enough cocoa to satisfy the demand. That is the way the free market is supposed to work.
;)
Increase from 30 to 20? Is that Common Core math?
Well, it's inspired by Orwell, so maybe there is indeed a connection with Common Core math.
That's good enough for me! And it explains why there aren't any alien civilizations knocking on our doors. They ran out...of chocolate...(shudders)
:)
My Cheve Tahoe IS responsible for glowbull warming and I sincerely apologize for that.
*Like*
I’ve never had the pleasure. Thank you for the recommendation. Enjoy!
Not much of New Orleans left?
They will get fewer customers too.
But this is a good time to do imaginative things that stretch chocolate out. Like whipped nougats.
But don’t forget the chocolated Aztecs. The Spaniards did a combination of wiping them out and diluting them. After all, even chocolate is not worth killing men on top of pyramids.
No they aren't.
Carob lacks theobromine.
All filler, no killer.
1. The world’s running out of chocolate.
2. The world’s running out of coffee.
3. Sunspots will cause the world to grind to a halt.
4. A killer computer virus is killing all the PCs.
5. The honey bees are all dying and the food crops will all fail from lack of pollination.
Have I missed anything important? (And global warming and “climate change” don’t count because those never leave the news in the first place.)
Ebola?
I see what you did there...
I believe the correct quote is:
“The world will end 28 days after we run out of Chocolate."
Einstein was married, wasn't he?
Next thing you will see is William Devane on foxnews hawking cocoa bars....
So you can make up for it by quaffing some tea.
Does tea have theobromides or merely traces of caffeine?
Theobromine, formerly known as xantheose,[1] is a bitter alkaloid of the cacao plant, with the chemical formula C7H8N4O2. It is found in chocolate, as well as in a number of other foods, including the leaves of the tea plant, and the kola (or cola) nut. It is classified as a xanthine alkaloid,[2] which also includes the similar compounds theophylline and caffeine.[1] The compounds differ in their degree of methylation.
(Wikipedia)
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