Via Discovery News I have learned that it is possible that there could be a chocolate shortage in the coming years due to a shortage of cacao. According to the article, the causes driving such a threat is unsustainable farming practices for cacao plants and farmers leaving their plantations due to a lack of profit. It's very frightening for me to hear of this considering chocolate is such a big value to me. I probably wouldn't be able to eat it period if the price skyrocketed by the shortage.
However, I think that this shortage is in actuality very unlikely to happen. The solutions to preventing such a shortage are mind-numbingly simple and easy to implement: Just start utilizing more sustainable farming practices and pay the farmers a greater price. It makes so much economic sense to do this that I can't see how any company would be able to overlook this, and given the amount of intellect and effort it took to make chocolate companies as successful as they are I highly doubt they're going to ignore this. Endangered Species, for instance, has always been oriented around fair wage and sustainable growing practices, and their products are very decently priced still. It should hardly impose on other chocolate companies to do the same.
What will probably happen is that we'll all be frightened about something that won't happen, including me. The means to solving this problem are far too easy to employ and it's so incredibly in the selfish interest of these companies to utilize them that I can't conceive of them doing otherwise.
I hope that government policies aren't skewing the incentives for the cacao farmers. A lot of chocolate does come from countries that are small, and by necessity equatorial, whose governments have that reputation.
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