On a much smaller scale vanilla can and is being successfully grown in countries throughout the Americas. Mexico is Latin America’s biggest producer of vanilla beans, though it still accounts for only a small share of the global market. Spices like vanilla, and the other near infinite bounty of these tropical forests, could be an important high-value alternative to destructive industries. The comparison to the prices of silver and other precious metals may be especially apt in Latin America, where mining continues to be a massive threat for rainforests and rainforest communities. “The current crisis of high vanilla bean prices and low quality against a backdrop of general concerns about social issues like poverty and child labor have created a sense of urgency for all stakeholders,” says Jan Gilhuis of IDH, the Sustainable Trade Initiative, which spearheads the initiative. A global Sustainable Vanilla Initiative was launched two years ago, involving many of the major players in the vanilla market. With prices on the rise, there’s an important opportunity to translate that into real benefits for farmers. The sheer amount of effort that goes into producing vanilla has been a barrier in the past, with farmers often giving up on the crop because the prices didn’t compensate the labor and risks involved. Vanilla is a cultivated orchid which needs to be hand-pollinated, flower by flower, then carefully soaked, sweated, and slowly dried to bring out the flavors and aromas of vanillin and several hundred other compounds. But price is also a reflection of the painstaking process behind bringing every vanilla bean to market. Its extraordinary price reflects scarcity (aggravated by a March 2017 cyclone that wiped out about a fifth of Madagascar’s crop) and surging demand as companies look for “natural” ingredients. Though originally from the Americas, about 80% of the world’s vanilla now comes from Madagascar. A global supply crunch is putting pressure on companies that rely on the ingredient – and creating new potential opportunities for farmers. With prices hitting $550-600 per kilogram of black vanilla beans, this precious spice is now worth more, pound-for-pound, than silver. The price of vanilla beans is at a record high.
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