Another chocolate-maker, not a Lorax, told me that most cacao beans aren't sprayed much since the locals can't afford it, but I've also heard otherwise. What's the truth?

Frederick: Both are true. As I just noted above, the vast majority of cacao is grown on small family farms and yes, most of them are too poor to afford chemicals. It's on the larger plantations that spraying will occur and most often it's the "premium" brands that will buy plantation grown cacao because it's often of better quality. I believe the government of Ghana will do aerial sprayings from time to time, as cacao is such as important export to that countries economy. Methyl Bromide is the fumigant of choice for cacao, and this is where the pesticide gets applied. The cacao doesn't get sprayed on the farm level; it's at the ports where the cacao gets sprayed. When a container of cacao leaves a countries port, there's gonna be insects in that cacao, so they fumigate. When the container arrives into port, say in the US, and there is any sign of insects, they fumigate again. I've heard that cacao is actually one of the most heavily fumigated commodities in the world. I have a friend ...