As we approach the Easter weekend, with baskets full of chocolate bunnies, I was interested to note a report in AgWeb about adverse impacts of the current strong El Niño on the production of cocoa beans, used to make chocolate. I’ve put a map of the major production areas below along with a map showing the global temperature percentiles for this past winter. The unusually warm weather in equatorial West Africa has reduced the yield of cocoa beans, increasing the price of this key ingredient in chocolate just in time for this sweet holiday.
