by Mark Christian | Dec 27, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
In 2008, Pearson spirited some coarsely fermented beans out of Peru & brought them back to California. Everyday before this gym rat works out, he’d pop a couple in his mouth as a sort of natural PED (Performance Enhancing Drug). More than a food, less than a drug,...
by Mark Christian | Dec 26, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
Dan Pearson grew up in the Midwest, far from any cacaó trees. His backyard had a few Dutch elms & some lawn grass. Now an investment banker living in San Diego where cement painted green takes the place of sod, he puts together deals & falls in love with the...
by Mark Christian | Dec 26, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
That’s just a taste of the official science. The informal reality is ever more convoluted. Other than Criollo, cacáo is generally promiscuous, with so much cross-pollination, hybridization, mutation, & recombination that it’s rare & increasingly difficult to...
by Mark Christian | Dec 24, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
Prospects are so frightening & staggering that Big Candy has no clue what they’re really chasing other than to desperately keep the current system of huge yields & cheap candy going – their definition of ‘sustainability’. They might only have to venture as far...
by Mark Christian | Dec 23, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
The chase is on. Mars, the candy giant, has been frantically mapping the cacáo genome in conjunction with whole teams of scientists from USDA field stations in Miami, FL & Beltsville, MD. Likewise their French counter – CIRAD — is equally fast at work, along...
by Mark Christian | Oct 20, 2012 | The Crush Pad Editorials
Wednesday, November 7, 2012 Luncheon (Noon – 2:00pm) World Bank Headquarters, Room I-8300, I Building 1750 19 & I Street NW, Washington DC Chair: Cyprian FISIY, Director, Social Development (SDV) and Laureant MSELLATI, Sector Manager, Latin America...
