Chocolate plantations as we know them now, could disappear completely by 2050 due to the high temperatures that have been recorded lately in land where cocoa grows.

Scientists at the University of California have teamed up with the company Mars and are exploring the possibility of using CRISPR genetic editing technology that allows small and precise adjustments to DNA that have never been possible before to create crops that can survive the new temperatures.

Under Myeong-Je Cho, director of plant genomics at an institute that works with the food and candy company Mars, the plants will be transformed.

The cocoa plants have a precarious position in the planet. They can only grow within a narrow strip of jungle about 20 degrees north and south of the equator, where temperature, rainfall and humidity remain relatively constant throughout the year.

Source: weforum