Siela Maximova

Top News
Top news RSS feed
opening cacao pod

From coca to cacao

5/15/17

As Colombia emerges from 50 years of violence, Penn State scientists are helping poor farmers switch from growing coca, the stuff of cocaine, to growing cacao, the principal ingredient in chocolate. Cacao for Peace, the international partnership they are a part of, seeks to transform Colombia's rural Caribbean coast in a cacao-growing hotspot.

Yufan Zhang sprays glycerol foliar treatment.

World's cocoa crop could get a big boost from a simple, non-toxic spray

6/30/14

Cocoa farmers this year will lose an estimated 30 to 40 percent of their crop to pests and disease, and concern is growing about sustainability in cocoa production. Scientists at Penn State's Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences have found – in a safe, biodegradable compound – a potential alternative to the hazardous antifungal agents currently being used to combat one of the most damaging cacao diseases, Phytophthora pod rot (also known as Black Pod).

Cocoa Futures

5/1/01

Mayaro district, island of Trinidad, at the beginning of the rainy season. Along the coast, which faces nearby Venezuela, a tender breeze is blowing from the ocean. Here, a dozen miles inland, there is no such refreshment. It's mid-morning, and already the humid air is a giant thumb pressed on this ragged clearing. The surrounding foliage seems to be advancing almost visibly. Every once in a while a crowded van, a Maxi-Taxi, hurtles past, upending the silence with blaring reggae gospel or jangly Hindu pop.