New Analysis: Equador Farmers Produce More Cocoa Beans Under Local Tree Canopy

Thanks again to my friend, Juliet, a great purveyor of great environmental news and science for sending this article to me from Conservation Magazine.
"A new analysis suggests that in Ecuador, farmers produce even more cocoa beans when they grow their crops under a canopy rich in local trees, providing a home for native animals in the process...b"ut many Ecuadorians may now be abandoning this agricultural practice, says a team of researchers from Ecuador, choosing to cut down trees to give their cocoa plants better access to sunlight."

It makes good economic and environmental sense for cocoa farmers to embrace their shade, they conclude. “Chocó cocoa therefore represents a rare case where yield and biodiversity could both benefit from a wildlife-friendly farming measure,” they write. “We term this a ‘partial win-win’ situation.” –Daniel Strain | March 18, 2012
Does anyone have any favorite Chocó Cocoa?

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