@erica

if you've been following, the global supply of chocolate is suffering. 70% of the world's cocoa comes from west africa, which has been hit hard by climate change and disease spread. a couple of years ago, cocoa prices shot up 3-4x and have remained unstable since. this market instability opened up the doors for the acceleration of a nascent market - lab grown cocoa. chocolate from cultured cacao cells in bioreactors! the cocoa industry has a slew of problems, partially stemming from being an industry that has historically priced its product too cheap relative to the true cost of its production. lab grown cacao products could prove a viable solution for reducing the disparity between labour and product cost (if the processes can effectively scale past experimental capacity). https://www.theguardian.com/wellness/2025/oct/31/lab-grown-chocolate-halloween

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