Sustainable+Practices+-+Group+B

Evan F-B Miss McGann Science 6-2 April 14

 Welcome! Here you will discover the truth about cocoa farming, the differences between sustainable Farming and sun plantations, as well as uncover the dark side of cocoa farming and the reason to buy fair trade products. Bon appetite! Sustainable Cocoa Growing/Manufacturing Practices  1. In the wild, they can grow up to 50 feet tall 2. They grow in the tropical regions of Africa, Asia, South America and Central America that are located about 15 degrees within of the equator 3.The cacao tree grows in the shade can grow fruit for 75 to 100 years or more the cacao tree 1. Cacao trees need constant warmth and rainfall to thrive and they need to be shaded from the strong tropical sun and sheltered from the wind 2. They grow best in the shade of other trees because when they are young, they need deep shade. But when mature they need more filtered sunlight 3. The Cacao Tree Needs 65 degrees Fahrenheit and up to grow, 80 inches and up of rain, Shade and a place with High Humidity levels.
 * __I. Cacao Tree__**
 * A. General Info About The Cacao Tree**
 * B. Growing Info On The Cacao Tree**

__**II. Sustainable growing**__ 1. Rainforest plants and animals are safer living on cacao farms because they create a refuge for them from poachers, construction and the burning of the rainforest 2. Cacao trees planted at the edge of healthy rainforests benefit from the wealth of nearby pollinators and natural pesticides. 3. Cacao trees grown next to the rainforest stay productive for much longer than cocoa trees grown on sun-plantations, for they suffer from pests, diseases, and lack of shade more frequently. 4. Organically grown cacao that is cultivated without chemicals sells for a much higher price as this in the Cocoa market 1. Planting along the rainforests also offers farmers to be able to supplement their shifting income by growing cacao alongside other canopy trees that grow goods, such as rubber, Brazil nuts, and cashews 2. When cacao trees can be grown with other cash crops like mango, African plum, avocado, guava, cola, lime, and chile peppers also offer money to the farmers 3. Growing cacao with other crops can potentially reduce the use and cost of pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers.
 * A. Why Sustainable Cacao Growing Is Better: Overall**
 * B. Why Sustainable Cacao Growing Is Better: Profit Off Other Plants**

__**III. Sun Plantations**__ 1. On sun plantations, farmers only grow cacao 2. The cacao tree is shaded until it's able to flower, then the farmers removes the shade trees and exposes the cacao tree to the sun's full strength. __a. Cacao tree, when grown in full sun light, produces more cocoa pods than cacao grown under a shade canopy, but only for 10 years before most of the cacao trees grown in full sun will stop producing cacao pods altogether.__  3. Growing cacao on open sun plantations requires clearing a patch of the rainforest, which kills many plants and displaces many animals **B. Sun Plantations And Why They Are Worse: Pests And Diseases **  1. To protect the cacao tree and to keep its production high, most farmers rely on expensive chemical pesticides and fertilizers to keep pests and diseases away 2. Farmers who own a sun plantation have no backup income if their crops are damaged by pests and diseases 3. If the price of chocolate plummets, farmers can suffer severe financial setbacks 4. In the rainforest, a variety of plants, mammals, and insects provide a complex but natural system of pest management, this system disappears when cacao is grown on sun plantations 5. The cacao's rainforest pollinators, midges, breed on the leafy rainforest floor and are less common in sunny, cacao fields.
 * A. Sun Plantations And Why They Are Worse: Overall**

1. Some of the cacao producing nations in West Africa continue to allow child slavery on Cacao farms even though in all of these nations slavery is illegal 2. Unfortunately, it is still often practiced and enforcement of the law is limited 3. Every year, thousands of Malian children are sold into slavery and brought to Cacao plantations in the Ivory Coast to work 4. The farms involved in slave trade are small and isolated enough that its dirty practice remains undetected by the law-enforcement officials 1. Fair trade means that the farmers get paid fair prices for there products and child labor is not used in the process of crating or harvesting that product 2. Buying fair trade chocolate ensures that small cacao farmers are paid fairly for their products and that it wasn't child slaves who pick the cacao pod from its tree
 * IV. Cacao workers **
 * A. Chocolate Slavery (This Practice Does Not Happen on Sustainable Farms) **
 * B. Fair Trade **

Bibliography

 "THE COCOA TREE." THE COCOA TREE. Chocolate Manufacturers Assn, 2003. Web. 9 Apr. 2010. . "The Dark Side of Chocolate." The World Atlas of Chocolate. N.p., 2003. Web. 13 Apr. 2010. <http://www.sfu.ca/geog351fall03/groups-webpages/gp8/darkside/ darkside.html>. Growing Chocolate." All About Chocolate. The Field Museum, 2007. Web. 9 Apr. 2010. <http://www.fieldmuseum.org/CHOCOLATE/growing.html>. On Black: Journey of chocolate begins here by wildxpolrer. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2010. <http://www.bighugelabs.com/ onblack.php?id=2290974392&size=large>. Recording Chocolate. N.d. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2010. <http://www.thepale.ie/ wp/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/chocolate.png>.