Extreme weather continues to wreak havoc on cocoa supplies, prices, producers and consumers, but potential alternatives for key commodities are emerging. David Burrows reports.
Bitter taste. Without financial support and fairer markets, cocoa yields will be “destroyed” by 2030. That’s according to producers from the Ivory Coast, from where the UK imports most of its cocoa. “Years of depressed prices have eroded farmers’ ability to reinvest in their land, meaning aging trees, diseases and increasingly unpredictable climate conditions have caused productivity to plummet and prices to skyrocket,” reported The Independent last week. UK chocolatiers are also having a hard time. “I’ve been doing this job for 58 years and this is the worst trading period I’ve ever experienced, and we’ve been through a couple of financial depressions,” one told the BBC recently.
Chocolate is hot. Talk of chaos in the chocolate chain isn’t just for Easter, mind: this has been a topic making headlines for many months now, causing consternation for businesses throughout the supply chain – from growers and processors right down to retailers and foodservice operators. Imports of cocoa beans to the UK have fallen by 10% since 2022, while the total cost has risen by around 20% overall, according to new analysis by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). The average price per kilo has gone up by a third (32%), meaning the UK is paying more for less cocoa. In the UK, chocolate-makers are being hit by soaring costs.
Melting pot. Extreme weather fuelled by climate change has lead to lower yields. Production is also plagued by deforestation and unethical labour practices, including child labour. Global demand continues to climb.
Crisis time for cocoa. So, why do alternatives to cocoa – as well as commodities in similar supply and demand storms – receive so little attention and funding? This is the question asked by researchers in Sweden and the UK in an article for the journal Nature Food.
Divine intervention. “We argue that these emerging alternatives deserve a spot on the research agenda. It might also further increase focus on the environmental and socio-economic impacts of traditional coffee, cocoa, and palm oil production,” explained Anne Charlotte Bunge, PhD Candidate at Stockholm Resilience Centre and co-author of the piece. She added: “These lab-grown foods could play a key role in transitioning towards more sustainable and resilient food systems, but we need more data to fully grasp their impact.”
Commodity chain challenge. Much attention has been paid, and much funding forked out on alternatives to proteins like meat, dairy and seafood, but far less on key commodities that are under threat from climate change, that drive deforestation and that are often beset by social issues within their supply chains – like cocoa and coffee. These are also often considered “luxury goods with minimal nutritional value, and therefore receive less interest in nutritional matters”, the experts noted.
Meet the alternatives. In their paper, the experts outline some of the emerging alternatives for these key commodities, including cell cultivated coffee that is deforestation- and pesticide-free, and has none of the child labour baggage that has long been exposed within this production chain. Precision fermentation is also showing potential to boost supply of cocoa and palm oil.
Low carbon chocs. German-based Planet A Foods entered the UK market in February with peanut butter mini eggs. Made with the Rhineland-based chocolate and confectionary maker Wawi-Schokolade the eggs are being sold under Aldi’s Dairyfine brand. Planet A Foods’ precision-fermented cocoa alternative ChoViva, based on sunflower seeds, offers “the same flavour, snap, texture and versatility as chocolate” but comes with 80% fewer emissions than standard chocolate, according to the company’s website.
David and Goliath. The cocoa-free space is largely dominated by SMEs but the big brands like Cargill are showing an interest, reported Just Food recently. We should not lose sight of the effect these innovations have on livelihoods in distant economies, noted Bunge and her colleagues. “Further research should explore whether small-scale farmers currently producing these crops can be supported from the margins by emerging alternatives, for example through investments in climate adaptation infrastructure and training programmes,” they wrote, adding: “[…] it is important to ensure that they [the alternatives] will not reinforce iniquities in food supply chains.”
Counting on no beans. Meanwhile, companies like Northern Wonder (Netherlands), Voyage Foods, Atomo and Minus (all US) are working on ‘beanless coffee’, innovating with ingredients like lupin beans, chickpeas, carob, grape seeds, chicory, and date seeds. Others like French startup Amatera make use of molecular biology and crop genetics technology to make perennial coffee, while Parisian firm Stem, the VTT Research Centre of Finland and Israeli biotech Pluri are innovating in the cellular agriculture space to develop coffee alternatives. “Our 3D bioreactors grow cells quickly and reliably, in a highly cost-effective process that can be applied to various types of cells,” Pluri told the Green Queen website last year. “By using a bioreactor, we don’t need the whole coffee plant for this process – the leaves of the plant are enough.”
Coffee cultured. In 2023, VTT released details of the exact process its scientists used to produce coffee starting from the original coffee plant, and establishing cell cultures to alter its aroma in the roasting process and caffeine content. Flavour analysis and sensory profiling by a panel of tasters was also conducted. Traditionally farmed coffee provides 1–2 harvests per year, whereas a new batch of lab-grown coffee can be made in a month.
Commercial questions. Heiko Rischer, principal scientist at VTT, explained: “It’s one thing to grow coffee cells in a bioreactor. Making it a commercially viable product is a whole other matter.” Lab coffee offers more control but would the excitement of different cultivars and species, growing in different soils in different places and under different conditions be lost?
Caffeine hit. Or miss. Consumer acceptance will be pivotal given how coffee, and to a lesser extent cocoa, provide the foundations for the business models of thousands of out of home businesses. But there seems to be little recent research on what people think about cell-based coffee or cocoa. And let’s not forget political resistance, as we had with Italy’s attempt to ban cell-based meats. “[…] similar pushback can be expected for cellular alternatives to coffee and cocoa as these products are central to several food cultures,” noted Bunge and her co-authors.
A bitter brew. What we do know is that UK consumers say they want fair wages and decent conditions for producers. Both of which are currently hard to find within cocoa and coffee supply chains. We need to look at the alternatives to meet demand as supplies dwindle. But in doing so we can’t hide from the bitter winds blowing through traditional methods of production, nor stop seeking better beans.
