Perhaps the solution would be a genetically engineered yeast that secretes theobromine and can be grown in vats anywhere. In a decade or two, that may be the only economically viable source of chocolate, and a few decades later, there may be nobody left who remembers the difference.
There’s some evidence that just plain-old genetic diversity solves the problem quite finely. But one one variety of cocoa has been manipulated into the hugely productive plants we expect them to be.
Perhaps the solution would be a genetically engineered yeast that secretes theobromine and can be grown in vats anywhere. In a decade or two, that may be the only economically viable source of chocolate, and a few decades later, there may be nobody left who remembers the difference.
There’s some evidence that just plain-old genetic diversity solves the problem quite finely. But one one variety of cocoa has been manipulated into the hugely productive plants we expect them to be.