connect the dots.
first peak oil, then peak urea, then peak tequila, now peak chocolate
> May 31 (Bloomberg) -- The global cocoa deficit this year will be larger than previously forecast after adverse weather hurt crops in Ivory Coast, Ghana and Indonesia, the top producing countries, the International Cocoa Organization said. Production will drop 7.5 percent to 3.44 million tons, falling short of demand by 145,000 tons, Laurent Pipitone, senior statistician at the London-based ICCO, said today in an interview. The organization forecast in March a deficit of 103,000 tons. ``There's been a significant drop in cocoa production compared to last season, mainly in West Africa because of dry weather between November and February,'' Pipitone said.
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> “We have a pretty tight situation for anhydrous ammonia and urea. If the season breaks early, some areas may not get all the fertilizer they want, when they want it, at any price.”
> MEXICO CITY - Mexican farmers are setting ablaze fields of blue agave, the cactus-like plant used to make the fiery spirit tequila, and resowing the land with corn as soaring U.S. ethanol demand pushes up prices.
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> The switch to corn will contribute to an expected scarcity of agave in coming years, with officials predicting that farmers will plant between 25 percent and 35 percent less agave this year to turn the land over to corn. "Those growers are going after what pays best now," said Ismael Vicente Ramirez, head of agriculture at Mexico's Tequila Regulatory Council.
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