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Post by hotcakes on Feb 20, 2015 21:12:52 GMT -5
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 21, 2015 7:56:10 GMT -5
the link doesn't work, but if it's the CCN51 story that was on this week, CCN 51's been out for a long, long time... There's not really a shortage, but there's room to improve quality and modernize for higher yields. Modernizing agronomics of soil nutrition, fertilization, and hydration can easily double outputs alone.
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Post by hotcakes on Feb 24, 2015 19:46:05 GMT -5
Fixed the link. Yes, CCN51. That is a great point, there is room for a lot modernisation on these small family farms. CCN 51 is part of this shift as it not affect by the disease that crippled Ecuador's cocoa production. No true shortage yet, My buyer at work was saying cocoa prices have gone up because of the fear of shortage.
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 25, 2015 20:14:08 GMT -5
Always consider the source of the information, and how they may benefit. The last decade has seen the rise of investors buying up HUGE amounts of either physical of futures on speculative markets - if there's a flurry of new stories that cry the end is near the end is near, and prices spike - folks sitting on mountains of inventory that were purchased at lower prices just may cash in.
Very rarely do media organizations vet their information or sources any more - what happens more often than not is 'news' is effectively a press release that's handed to the media from a vested party.
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Post by hcdalavictoria on Aug 24, 2016 16:10:31 GMT -5
I tend to agree with Sebastian. Other than the article is extremely poor from the journalistic research point.
My grandfather actually sponsored Homero Castro in one of the family plantations in Naranjal. There he crafted various types of trees using nacional with regional types even some from the amazon region. Never did Homero Castro go to africa or the carribean, thats fully made up. Even today there are a few species of hybrid cocoa trees that were never commercialized that are better than the ccn 51 at the farm. you can find them on my instagram under the username of hcdalavictoria only pictures of course... And i wish this journalist was 'smarter' from her interview with guittard. i as my family have been producing cocoa since a few generations in ecuador and never have the buyers, be the exporters or the chocolate makers been willing to pay a higher price (premium) for our 'nacional' cocoa (which is the one thats has the best flavor and aroma). so it comes down to a economic equation: a lesser productive plant needs a higher price to compensate for the lower yield and better quality. unfortunately greed blinded these merchants and well self destroyed the production for better cocoa trees. This could change but they don't want to pay more so what i have seen happening in the last years here is the implantation of foreign companies to produce nacional. we will see how that goes for them.. no harm meant but cultural challenges are often the most difficult to deal with. i would guess one day they will realize that its cheaper to pay the right price for the right raw material.
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