[nerdbaggy]

Rotten episode on Chocolate is really eye opening about the staggering amounts of slavery, child labor, and corruption in the chocolate industry. Basically every brand you can think of is in on it.

https://www.netflix.com/title/80146284

[SyzygistSix]

But there are many smaller brands making excellent chocolate using far more ethical sourcing, at least a hundred in the US alone. The upside of this is that the quality is much better than Nestle, Hershey, Cadbury, Dove, etc.

While fair trade and similar designations are not a cure-all and mostly profit farm owners, they seem downright ethical in comparison to the slavery and child labor used by growers of low quality beans. The plain truth is that chocolate, like coffee, is expensive to produce. Source- I worked as a chocolate maker in the US. It really is a fascinating process. And as a bonus, many chocolate companies enjoy showing visitors the process. As far as industrial tourism goes, I highly recommend visiting one. There may be a high quality chocolate maker closer to you than you realize.

[ensignavenger]

Maybe... but I am rather skeptical of Netflix documentaries (really, any documentary) and have a hard time taking their claims with anything but a huge grain of salt.

[corpMaverick]

Is there something preventing us from cultivating Cacao beans in artificial environments(e.g.green houses).

[SyzygistSix]

Cost. It takes large orchards, and I would not be surprised if the surrounding ecosystem has some effect as well. One day, when energy is super cheap and superabundant, it will happen.