Name Date Hour Due Date Chocolate, Potato and Banana Production Presentations Note Guide: Directions: During these presentations, your goal is to listen to the presenters and get an overview of the information they are presenting. You should use this sheet to guide your note-taking. It would be a good idea to fill in the information about your article before the presentations begin. Growing Chocolate: 1. What is monocropping? 2. What are sun plantations? Why did growers begin growing cocoa plants on sun plantations? (In other words, what are the advantages of growing cocoa plants on sun plantations?) 3. What are the disadvantages to the sun plantation system? 4. What are sustainable farms? 5. What are the advantages of the sustainable farming system? 6. Why might there be a chocolate shortage in the future? Labor Practices in Chocolate Production: 1. Where in the world is most of the chocolate produced? 2. What working conditions exist for many chocolate growers? (What is the work like?) Who are the chocolate growers?
3. What is the difference between a chocolate grower and a chocolate manufacturer? 4. Who are the major chocolate manufacturers? 5. In what ways are chocolate manufacturers responsible for the working conditions of chocolate growers? 6. What are some actions that these global chocolate manufacturers could take to improve conditions in West African chocolate-producing countries? Fair Trade Chocolate: 1. How much money is spent on chocolate in the U.S. each year? 2. Explain the history and development of the current chocolate industry. How is cocoa processed before it reaches us? 3. What happened in 2001 that caused much of the world to recognize the problems in the chocolate industry? 4. What is fair trade chocolate? What benefits does fair trade chocolate provide for the chocolate growers?
5. What benefits does fair trade chocolate provide for the environment? 6. What benefits does fair trade chocolate provide for chocolate manufacturers? Potatoes and Biodiversity: 1. How are potatoes threatened? 2. The Irish potato famine of the 1840s is often used as an example of the danger of too little genetic biodiversity. Explain. 3. How are commercially grown potatoes different from the wild potatoes and potatoes grown on family farms in the Andes? 4. What is the International Potato Center? What role do they play in preserving potato biodiversity? 5. The Quechua are a group of Native Americans in South America. What actions are they taking that contribute to the preservation of the biodiversity of potatoes?
Peru: Women The Guardians of Potato Biodiversity: 1. What role do women play in preserving potato biodiversity? 2. How many varieties of potatoes are grown in the Andes region? 3. How many varieties of potatoes are cultivated by Peruvian women? 4. Why is the potato such a good food staple? 5. How do Peruvian women freeze-dry potatoes (chuño)? Banana Background: 1. How many bananas are grown each year? What percentage is used in international trade? What are the rest used for? 2. Why are bananas so important worldwide? And, why and how does so much of the world depend on them?
3. Explain the genetic diversity of bananas worldwide. Which type are we most familiar with in the United States? What are other common varieties worldwide? 4. Explain the common threats to bananas. 5. What is so significant about Fusarium wilt? (Explain historical and present significance.) 6. What human and environmental concerns are there with combating banana diseases?
The Banana Industry in Costa Rica: 1. Describe when international trade of bananas began in Costa Rica. And, provide a timeline for international (transnational) companies involved in the banana trade in Costa Rica. 2. What is so unique about Costa Rica in terms of biodiversity? 3. Describe how (and why) biodiversity is threatened in Costa Rica. 4. How are banana plantations (run by large corporations) hurting the environment?