Believe this or not but one day we wont be able to use chocolate so crazy like we do now. This xmas I was talking to a family member at dinner who works for Hersey candies. She was telling me about a shortage that is coming. Its predicted by 2040 chocolate will be a rare commodity in much shorter supply. She told me the beans cant be produced quick enough for our consumption rates. Only a small area of the world can grow them and the season is not long enough. Apparently China and Japan have REALLY taken off in sales of chocolate products where there was little to none and they only see that expanding. That's a huge number of people to supply... BILLIONS. Prices of candy and syrups are going to go way up and become very rare treat by 2050... yes it might just sound like hearsay but its a real problem that the company is looking into and is panicked about. She was able to talk about it for a half hour... so its not just a minor tid-bit conversation piece type of thing... I thought it was very interesting to think that one day something as simple as a chocolate bar is going to be something to think about before buying. Think of the effect this will have on the WAM world. I guess more reason to enjoy it if chocolate is your thing.

Once again take it for whats its worth. I dont want to sound like a crazy person on a soapbox... just relaying a topic of interest.

I've heard this a few times now from multiple sources. It does appear that the popularity of dark chocolate will lead to a chocolate shortage. However I think it's unrealistic to try to project out to so far in the future. It's possible that production methods or cultivation could change in a way that would increase the supply. Or possibly demand could go down. But if prices do rise significantly that would suck for me since I use chocolate on almost a daily basis, I add dark coco to almost everything!

I've seen this reported as well. If it comes to pass, I suspect this is representative of our future (although, Lelia you'd look pretty good in Tina Turner's outfit I'd think):

Wow... that's real long term planning to be panicking for a chocolate shortage in the 2040s! As long as there is no shortage of pies and batter, I think the WAM community will do fine...

2040 seems like a long time away, but it's only 25 years. Those in their early 20's wouldn't even be 50 years old yet.

I started working for a different company in 1978. The year 2000 seemed so far off. When I received a report from them saying that I would be eligible to retire in 2018, I thought: "Yeah, okay, 2018; that's forever from now." Well, guess what? It's right around the corner! (Of course, the government then proceeded to change the retirement age for us baby boomers! :-S )

A lot of big companies try to project 20, 25, 30 years into the future to see what direction they should be heading now. They may not be right by the time it comes, but hopefully, they are close. The people who made horse-drawn carriages, and said, "Automobiles are just a fad. They'll never take over the private transportation industry" are out of business. The people who said that "talking pictures" are just a fad, "Who wants to hear actors talk?", went out of business if they didn't convert. So looking at the future can be helpful!

Norman