What is happening with chocolate?

Chocolate production and consumption is undergoing profound changes. The seemingly endless expansion of the chocolate shelves at your local food store is only the visible side of the deep metamorphosis happening to the aging chocolate industry.  Heavily relying on new technologies at all levels, every player involved in the chocolate chain needs to adjust to new realities. The large international companies are finding harder and harder to obtain cocoa beans in volume and at prices they like. Farmers are frustrated to be living at or under poverty levels even twenty years after the advent of “Fair Trade”, and consumers are increasingly demanding “authentic” products providing cocoa sensations while respecting people and nature. At the same time, new hardware is being manufactured that allows passionate chocolate lovers to start producing their own chocolate.