‘More of a luxury item:’ Extreme weather devastating cocoa crop and increasing chocolate prices

WELLESLEY, Mass. — If you love chocolate, you are likely now paying more for that treat. And this isn’t news that shoppers want to hear heading into Easter weekend.

Cocoa trees require very particular weather conditions to yield a robust crop and climate change is having a negative impact on these plants.

A smaller crop means higher costs for consumers and also provides a warning about the future of many other foods we need and love.

Choc-Allure in Wellesley is filled with many unique and delectable treats.

Owner Liron Gal is a French-trained chocolatier. She makes about 2,000 chocolates every day so the price of cocoa is very much on her mind.

“The price of cocoa has pretty much doubled in the past year,” said Gal. “It’s up to $30 a pound right now and I just got another update from my supplier that it’s going up 10%-15% in the next month.”

About 60% of global cocoa is produced in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

This region of West Africa sits close to the equator and has been experiencing wild swings in its weather.

Extreme rain events have been followed by crippling droughts.

This cycle is bad for cocoa trees and it reduces the size and quality of the crop.

“A good agricultural production area has the same type of conditions year in and year out that you can depend on,” explained Professor Jeff Basara, Ph.D., chair of the Environmental, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences program at the University of Massachusetts – Lowell.

He says once the weather becomes extreme and deviates from the norm adverse impacts can be seen.

When asked if cocoa beans are like a canary in a coal mine for other agricultural plants, Basara said, “I think it’s a horrifying canary in a coal mine.”

Basara added, “There’s no question the changing climate system may have impacts on agriculture even locally here in New England.”

Yields of coffee beans are suffering as areas suitable to grow these plants are shrinking.

Smaller banana crops are the result of warmer temperatures.

It’s getting harder to grow Champagne grapes in the Champagne region of France because it’s just too hot.

And last summer, extreme rain devasted farms across Massachusetts, wiping out entire fields of crops.

“All the things that we take for granted in some ways may be impacted via price or availability as we move forward,” Basara said.

Back at Choc-Allure, Gal hasn’t raised prices and says she’ll hold off as long as she can.

She’s hoping something as basic as chocolate doesn’t get out of reach for many people.

“It’s just going to become more of a luxury item that fewer and fewer people can afford,” Gal said.

She said there are other candies people can use as substitutes but “there’s nothing that tastes like chocolate.”

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