Chocolate! This is just the worst news ever.

http://gizmodo.com/568549...-chocolate

At the rate we're going, chocolate is going to be a rare—and extremely pricey—commodity within the next twenty years. Somebody needs to light a fire under those Oompa-Loompas, stat.

The problem's easy to explain, and much harder to fix. According to the Cocoa Research Association, we're consuming more chocolate than we're producing cocoa. Which means, eventually, we're going to run out.

Cocoa's notoriously difficult to harvest, meaning more and more small-scale West African growers—who make an average of 80 cents per day—have little incentive not to turn to more lucrative crops, like rubber, or give up farming altogether in favor of more stable opportunities in cities.

What will the shortage mean? $11 Snickers bars, sooner than you think. Pretzels given out for Halloween. Or more candy made from carob, a poor substitute for the sweet and sticky real deal. And a tectonic shift in how we view our mochas, according the Nature Conservation Research Council's John Mason:

"In 20 years chocolate will be like caviar. It will become so rare and so expensive that the average Joe just won't be able to afford it."

But don't lose hope! Both Hershey and Mars, Inc. have sequenced the cacao genome, meaning more resilient trees could be in our future. And 20 years seems like enough time to figure out how to incentivize farmers appropriately.

Full story here: http://www.independent.co...27874.html

For conservation purposes, they should stop making cheap milk chocolate candy bars.

it's okay, digital chocolate will be plentiful, and we'll all hate it anyway

What the FUCK, world.

Time to start planting my own cocoa plant/tree.

Er... if the difficulty of growing cocoa plants are driving farmers away, wouldn't the increased demand-supply ratio (and consequent price hike) attract them back? I honestly think this will regulate itself, and any radical price increase will just be a blip on the radar.

retina said:

Er... if the difficulty of growing cocoa plants are driving farmers away, wouldn't the increased demand-supply ratio (and consequent price hike) attract them back? I honestly think this will regulate itself, and any radical price increase will just be a blip on the radar.

it's certainly less alarming than our oil comsumption. At least chocolate grows on trees.

[Edited 11/9/10 15:04pm]

NDRU said:

retina said:

Er... if the difficulty of growing cocoa plants are driving farmers away, wouldn't the increased demand-supply ratio (and consequent price hike) attract them back? I honestly think this will regulate itself, and any radical price increase will just be a blip on the radar.

it's certainly less alarming than our oil comsumption. At least chocolate grows on trees.

[Edited 11/9/10 15:04pm]

Yeah exactly. When you're talking about finite resources then an indefinite price increase is a real danger, but when it comes to supply that can be expanded and shrunk according to demand, it's a different story.

screw global warming, let's put our best minds to work on this problem!

HOLY SHIT!!!!

My family grows chocolate in Puerto Rico.... time to get them to send me a cocoa tree....

I went on a tour of a chocolate factory on Sunday.

it cost me and the kids $36 to get in an see THIS bullshit

you know, if they can grow organs in a vat WHY can't they grow chocolate there too??!!!

What is Obama doing about this??

This issue will determine the winner of the next election!

Remember those that make your chocolate products possible.

http://www.tigweb.org/you...ntID=14253

This is good news. In 20 years I'll finally be super skinny!

see, my idea of chocolate recycling

doesn't sound so crazy, does it???

it's all so clear...

THIS is what the Mayans were talkin' about when they said 2012 is the end of the world!!

I really like chocolate

but I don't constantly crave it

or would miss it intensely if it were gone

now if the world was running out of blowjobs

I'd riot in the streets

ZombieKitten said:

I went on a tour of a chocolate factory on Sunday.

it cost me and the kids $36 to get in an see THIS bullshit

PunkMistress said:

What the FUCK, world.

ZombieKitten said:

I went on a tour of a chocolate factory on Sunday.

it cost me and the kids $36 to get in an see THIS bullshit

Lammastide said:

ZombieKitten said:

I went on a tour of a chocolate factory on Sunday.

it cost me and the kids $36 to get in an see THIS bullshit

it was SOOOOO stupid! if you select any kind of flavour except strawberry, it just says "out of stock" and so no matter what you want to make, you get a strawberry chocolate bar

even THIS didn't make up for it

or this:

what is the point of chocolate behind GLASS!!!

zk, you should make your kids reimburse you

orger said:

zk, you should make your kids reimburse you

I could just help myself to their piggy banks while they are at school

ZombieKitten said:

orger said:

zk, you should make your kids reimburse you

I could just help myself to their piggy banks while they are at school

no need for them to leave

smash their piggy banks in front of them

teach them a valuable financial lesson

orger said:

ZombieKitten said:

I could just help myself to their piggy banks while they are at school

no need for them to leave

smash their piggy banks in front of them

teach them a valuable financial lesson

first I should get them porcelain pigs - the smashing will be more dramatic then

ZombieKitten said:

Lammastide said:

it was SOOOOO stupid! if you select any kind of flavour except strawberry, it just says "out of stock" and so no matter what you want to make, you get a strawberry chocolate bar

even THIS didn't make up for it

or this:

what is the point of chocolate behind GLASS!!!

I'm so sorry.

Whose idea was the visit?

ZombieKitten said:

orger said:

no need for them to leave

smash their piggy banks in front of them

teach them a valuable financial lesson

first I should get them porcelain pigs - the smashing will be more dramatic then

you can't win

even trying to teach a lesson

is gonna cost you money

Lammastide said:

ZombieKitten said:

it was SOOOOO stupid! if you select any kind of flavour except strawberry, it just says "out of stock" and so no matter what you want to make, you get a strawberry chocolate bar

even THIS didn't make up for it

or this:

what is the point of chocolate behind GLASS!!!

I'm so sorry.

Whose idea was the visit?

everyone's, we were on a weekend away!