Chocolate Shortage

The next food to supposedly become a rare and pricey commodity and available only to the rich is none other than, drum roll please, chocolate. Surprised? I sure was when I read the report that cocoa production may drop dramatically over the next twenty years all due to a lack of agriculture and financial incentives for farmers who could very well find other crops much more financially appealing. Let's face it, we consume chocolate practically faster than cocoa farmers can produce it, and with cocoa being the labor intensive crop that it is, often taking up to five years to cultivate, it suddenly becomes a crop that offers a very small reward for an expansive amount of back breaking and time consuming work. It's being predicted that chocolate will become as rare and expensive as caviar and the average consumer will just not be able to afford it. But unlike caviar, a fondness for the taste of chocolate is not limited to the palates of the idle rich; chocolate is loved the world over, by young and old alike. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say life without chocolate is hard to imagine. A world chocolate crisis would be something that nightmares are made of!