Vanilla Is The 2nd Most Expensive Spice. So Why Do Madagascar's Farmers Live In Poverty?
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- čas přidán 10. 12. 2022
- Vanilla is one of the world's most expensive spices because it's so labor-intensive to grow. Madagascar is responsible for 80% of the world's supply. And there, each vanilla orchid blooms for just one day a year. Farmers have to hand-pollinate each flower because the plant isn't native to the island. In recent years, the tough work has paid off, as vanilla prices soared to $600 per kilo in 2018.
But why, if vanilla outpriced silver, are Madagascar farmers still in poverty? Farmers face fluctuating prices, unfair cuts of profits, and vanilla thieves stealing their crops. We head to Madagascar to see how farmers are trying to protect their "green gold."
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Vanilla Is The 2nd Most Expensive Spice. So Why Do Madagascar's Farmers Live In Poverty? | Big Business | Business Insider
If something is expensive, but farmers are poor, the traders are criminals
The 🌎 is so. Nobody changes this way.
True👍
The farmers should charge mor
@@Joe-sg9llthe farmers provide the necessary work and they deserve a proper living wage. You are against human rights if you believe being “unskilled” and “interchangeable” is valid reason to keep people at slave wages. Clearly you think you’re more of a person than them but I’ll break your bubble, you’re not :)
@@Joe-sg9ll Farming IS a skill. The companies that control the processing and distribution have control over the govt as well. The farmers have no other way to sell their products. Those companies keep a stranglehold over the market to keep the farmers price as low as possible to maximize profit.
It’s the same in Ghana, cocoa is a billion dollar industry yet cocoa farmers are poor.
Value is in the end product. That's the penalty for being so far removed from the market and it sucks even worse when you are competing with your peers for things when times are good. That economy needs more diversity than vanilla.
@@BlackJesus8463 it’s called exploitation .. you can put whatever economic jargon you will on it but it boils down to exploitation.
Convince gov to let everyone that wants use an acre of free tax free land to grow their own food and live on. Ban farm subsidies.
@@BlackJesus8463 You can't honestly think that's true?
@@FewNewReasonss Raw cocoa is not eatable, so have no value as nobody would buy it. As he said, the end product makes the capital gains. It's the same with everything. If they want the money they have to make chocolate themselves, but that requires skills and an highend industry that they don't have.
It's ironic that farmers who put the most effort in a crop earns just a tiny fraction of the value of the final product. Respect to all farmers around the world.
That's because it needs to go through about 2/3 intermediaries until they get to the supermarket, and everyone will add their own markup, and also add the taxes they have to pay, so that's why the product is way cheaper at source
I was shocked to hear when the farmer sold 1 kilo of raw vanilla beans for $16. I get that it has to get processed which costs extra money but to only get $16 from 1 kilo when it's worth $250, that's just straight up robbery.
As a farmer, you have no idea how right you are!
@@astral_gaming_0956 They're doing most of the actual work though. The most money should start with them and get less the further out it goes, not the way it actually happens.
And these guys have to defend vanilla farms with their lives
I've lived in Madagascar for 16 months. Believe me you can get 7-8 kilos of big fresh lychees for just a dollar. The vanilla is also damp cheap like a local seller would provide 10-15 sticks for a buck.
it's good when you are a capitalist oppressing the workers, everything is cheap👍
Damn that's crazy. How much is wifi?
Dude start a business selling directly to us customers. Help the farmers get a bigger cut
@@maestrobash7822 wat
@@williamkreth The price will still rise because of how the shipping companies are now raising their shipping price high. Shipping companies are having record breaking profits from last year. The bonuses are crazy.
Respect to all the farmers across the world. The good ones have a relationship with the planet that others don't understand.
There are many farmers who don't give a sheet about your health. No group thinking please.
They don't need respect, they need fair payment for their labour. They can't feed their families with respect...
Everything All In - Oh, is that like the elite screaming “save the planet” then travel daily by private jet?! So you want to punish the poor farmers trying to feed and clothe their families so you can virtue signal.
Everything All In - Of course… You are from California! You are most definitely a leftist telling poor, black, people in Madagascar how to live. Shame on you!
What a jerk off statement. Why are you romanticizing these people? I have nothing against them but stop acting like they're wise Shaman drawing Spirits forth from the Earth they're making money growing a plant. That's it
It must smell divine there surrounded by the aroma of vanilla.
@@Joe-sg9llyeah it’s a known fact that vanilla stops having its smell when in Africa… take a walk dude
My father was a farmer in Grenada 🇬🇩, this vanilla bean documentary reminds me of my father’s days as a farmer, the crops were nutmeg and cocoa, they were always underpaid. While companies in America and Europe profited, with them knowing anything about planting any kind of crops.
The answer to why workers live in poverty is - as always - capitalism.
@@realstatistician okay then teach the people doing those things how to farm and send them out into the fields lol
Exactly as it should be if your not smart enough to know what to do with your product its not other people fault
this makes me appreciate vanilla ice cream on a new level..
almost all vanilla products are made of fake flavoring
you think the vanilla you eating is the real vanilla?
@@fenerxxx Ha that was my thought as well. :p
Vanilla ice cream is often times faux vanilla
Artificial
Vanilla farmers need to form their own coop and process their own beans. This is the secret this video didn’t bother to cover. Stored correctly, processed vanilla beans can last 30 years! If the market price is not to their liking, they can hold onto it and wait for a better season. In Tonga, Vanilla beans are actual currency. They are stored in bank vaults for years on end.
On the off season from vanilla, Madagascar farmers need to grow coffee and process it themselves with the same Coop.
The late Tom Kadooka from Hawaii was the worlds’ leading expert on Vanilla. He began propagating vanilla back in 1941. For well over 60 years Tom tried to get Kona coffee farmers to grow vanilla on their off season. Kona coffee farmers resisted due to the detailed work that went into propagating Vanilla.
Vanilla is second to Saffron. 4 acres of coffee produces the same yield as a quarter acre of Vanilla. Any other domestic produce would require hundreds of acres, equipment and tons of manpower to match the yield of both vanilla and coffee.
You're right on point. It is for the farmers benefits to unite with each other. Doing this kind of farming alone is... I would say unreasonable, but I must admit there must be other barriers that we don't see
they need to have something other then vanilla to fall back on what happens when companies choose another country to get it from
So they have zero income if they don’t sell their crops.
Storing it makes no sense. Customers will get it elsewhere or use vanillin. Not to mention they have no income when they aren't selling anything.
@@misterhat5823 storing it makes sense when there is a surplus in some years, and when there's a low price year they would just store until the prices are back or make forward contracts or take some loans if they are desperate. Of course it will be better if they would have some other crops.
It's marked up ridiculously. I'm American. If you buy a whole vanilla beans in the US, IT CAN COST $15 for 2 beans. But if i were to go to Mexico at a farmers market in Jalisco. Vanilla beans cost $1.25 per bean. The product is only expensive because of all the middle man prices. But that's my guess.
Most of the vanilla in Mexico is synthetic and most if not all of the synthetic contains coumarin. Coumarin is added to make the synthetic taste more like real vanilla but coumarin is toxic, can cause liver damage and is a known carcinogen. It has been banned in the US since the 1950's.
I think that you mean per pod?
Lots of taxes. Try importing even an electronic product. Ocean shipping is a minor cost compared to the various fees and taxes.
$1 /bean on Etsy.
I love these types of educational videos that remind me that something I couldn't care less about is someone else's whole world.
I like my job, but it definitely makes me grateful. Have you seen the video about the sulfur miners? Now that's a terrible job that they get paid barely anything for.
@@Aatell764 no, I haven't seen it, but I'm going to go watch it now. Thanks!
Your just click or movement of finger is world for someone,,,respect world
That's just the "modern day slavery" you'll discuss the same in another 100 years how slaves didn't understand that they're being enslaved 😂💩+.+++++.+
@@prtygrl5077 I highly doubt I'll be discussing anything in 100 years.
There is something wrong with the 1300% price increase. Because fresh vanilla crops are full of water and very heavy. With dry out beans you need much more beans for one Kilogram. Would be nice to consider this as well.
Brilliant point
That's just the "modern day slavery" you'll discuss the same in another 100 years how slaves didn't understand that they're being enslaved 😂💩+.+.+.+
There were also dozens of people working at the facility who we can assume collect some salary, plus machinery and electricity costs for operating the plant, the energy to cook all those beans and run the equipment isn't free! The farmers haven't done "all" the hard work in obtaining a finished product, the co-op did a huge amount of work as well to turn the green vanilla bean into something useable.
The ripe bean is at 75-80% moisture content and the finished cured and dried bean is at 30 percent moisture content. Not a massive difference as you suggest. Certainly not to justify 17 dollars per fresh kilo for the poor farmer and 250 dollars per finished product kilo. Even after allowing for the wages of all the intensive Labour needed to process the beans, its still even after all that..a rough deal for the farmers! Then we pay 5-10 dollars for 2 pods in the shops! Thats 320 pods per kilo on average..so at even 5 dollars per 2x pods thats still 800 dollars per kilo for shop price..and often far higher than that! And they call that FAIRtrade! EVERYONE gets a great cut, apart from the farmer!
@@PixelatedExistence they are just modern day slaves. They will be remembered in another 100 years as "how slaves were 100 years ago"
My family started to grow vanilla two years ago. This year the plants started to bloom. But, the whole vines were stolen during the rise of vanilla pods price..THE WHOLE VINES, not just the pods
Wtf!!? That’s horrible!! I’ve considered buying one, but it’s high maintenance and I’m poor. Now I have to keep thieves in mind too. Oof
I wonder if I grow it in a first world country will it be stolen lol!
@@MrMannyhw nobody would even know it's a vanilla plant
@@breadgirl9806 Buy one.
They are orchids. Orchids are hardy and easy to take care of, but is tricky to get them to bloom.
They're very very cheap, buy cuttings. Some cuttings have permanent mini leaves if you fail to take care of it properly/just bad luck. Their shiny petite beautiful leaves are really nice to look at, you need a trellis, do NOT get their roots stuck to a wall, pulling the roots will damage both the paint and the roots. Vanilla plants like more shadier light. They're really a nice addition to a home.
Props to the person who did the subtitles. I'm Malagasy and it's accurate. Mahay ianao fa tohizo hatrany.
the language the farmers are speaking, it's very beautiful.
13:51 Correction: The margin between Farmer and Middleman is not 1300% but 30-60%.
Green Beans: Dry Beans ratio is 1:5 meaning you can expect to loose up to 5 times the weight when the vanilla is cured. Consequently, the farmer is paid 17$ per kilo, but roughly 200 grams of dry vanilla will come out of it. 5 Kilos of Green Vanilla Beans = 1 Kilo of brown, dry Vanilla.
Its more accurate to say the farmer is proportionally paid 85$ per kilo of dry Vanilla, while the cooperative earns 250$, to this you need to consider the employment costs of curing, sorting, packaging, transport and taxes. As observed, this employs a lot of people and is labor intensive, in the grand-scheme of things, cooperatives earn no more than a 30-60% net margin. Nothing wrong with this imo as its creating a lot of jobs and opportunities to work with large buyers.
At the end of the day, the farmer earns 85$ per kilo of Dry Vanilla and the middle-man banks an additional 25$-50$ net profit per Kilo. This is very, VERY different from the 1300% the video claims.
Thank you
source
That's just the "modern day slavery" you'll discuss the same in another 100 years how slaves didn't understand that they're being enslaved 😂💩.+.++.
Good points
@@prtygrl5077
Pasting the same response on every comment regardless of relevance only reflects poorly on you.
I cant help but notice that most of the fancy shit we enjoy is brought to us by the poorest among us. Somehow, the high prices paid dont amount to anything to the people it should impact the most...
When I can afford it, I tend to go to local producers to try and get closer to the farm itself, farmers shouldn't be unable to take care of themselves
They should be growing other crops. You route a vine up any fruit or nut tree and I saw someone mention coffee.
@@BlackJesus8463 as seen in the video vanilla is already very labor intensive. and the people are poor, they may not have the money to invest in new crops, nor can they risk losing money if the crop doesn't sell. They are skilled laborers working hard to provide a valuable commodity.They should be compensated fairly.
That farmer seemed like a real nice guy
It’s amazing how many modern crops have their origin in South America
Respects to the farmers especially vanilla farmers because of their relentless hardwork we are able to enjoy Vanilla that's used in making Vanilla ice cream etc.
In most vanilla products, there's no actual real vanilla. That's because it's easily replicated chemically, and that's why you can get vanilla ice cream, for example, for a reasonable price, compared to ice cream with real vanilla.
That's just the "modern day slavery" you'll discuss the same in another 100 years how slaves didn't understand that they're being enslaved 😂💩+.++.
you and I probably didn't even taste a real vanilla
@@CRUASSANFAN Alot of people use real vanilla extract for baking and such. I've got some pure vanilla extract made with Madagascar vanilla beans in my cabinet. I will say the actual real stuff (extract) like I have is expensive though that's for sure.
vanilla ice cream > chocolate ice cream. I said what i said
There isn’t anything more heavenly than home made ice cream flavored with real vanilla.... there are no words to describe how beautiful it tastes.
In Bali the main problem for vanilla and cocoa now days is extreme climate change. Most of beans are dried earlier and of course it become not good for quality.
I'm so glad to see more cooperatives happening! Meridian Cacao, a cacao cooperative, sells Madagascar beans for home use, and there are more worldwide cooperatives popping up like I think Diaspora Co is working with a small farm in India, or there are Hawaiian vanilla farmers starting to sell direct to consumers. But that these beans tend to be more expensive, and we both need more affordable options for everyone, and more money going to farmers.
yup. I love it when I see the chance to loan my money to help set up a cooperative through kiva. Happens quite a bit, which is great :) In the past, before microfinance style organisations, co-ops had major problems getting funded to get started
@@mehere8038Thank you for introducing me to Kiva, it’s brilliant! Now more money is going to be loaned out because of your comment 😊
That factory and those people must smell awesome!
fr
This reminds me of a video I've watched where they gave cocoa farmers some pieces of chocolate to try. The farmers hadn't even known what they grew would become this chocolate, and they were so surprised to taste it for the first time ever. To think Nestle & other chocolate producers make billions while the farmers live in poverty their whole life not even knowing what chocolate is, it's just sad
That's hard to believe that chocolate farmers would not recognize the taste profile of cocao. In the Caribbean, cocao growers make an "unprocessed" version of the bean. That is rolled up in a ball. The real "100% cocao" Often used to make "chocolate tea"
@@TheJCMlove See it this way: You likely wouldn't recognize potato chips (or crisps in the UK) as being made out of potato if you haven't been told beforehand.
The fat and spices, also the chemical reactions due to the heat overshadow and destroy any potato-like taste.
They consume cocoa differently, less processed (equivalent of pure, mashed potatoes), thus don't know our watered down, highly processed products.
The answer to why workers live in poverty is - as always - capitalism.
Makes me very angry to know those farmers get so little money (when I pay such a high price over here for ONE vanilla stick). If they start some “patreon” to build their own cooperative/factory, I would like to support them…
It's insane how many people are involved in making my ice cream taste a certain way that I like
Yeah your ice-cream most likely has artificial vanilla extract.
If your ice cream use real vanilla instead of artificial ones then you must be rich af
@@yawarakai3003 even breyers has a natural vanilla option. All haagen daz is natural vanilla.
Rlly makes you think
It’s crazy. And I love vanilla so much 😢
Great respect for the farmer interviewed, he lives in poverty yet walks over a mile to get to work each day , crosses muddy fields and rivers and still arrives in a pressed white collared shirt and shorts. He has respect for himself and looks better on the job than most people I know here in the US.
Meanwhile, you have part time Starbucks workers crying on TikTok about how hard their job is.
It's normal for people to dress more nicely when they are scheduled for a documentary shooting. But I don't believe they would dress in tattered clothes everyday. They just probably chose their best clothes for this shooting.
You respect someone being taken advantage of? Lmao
@@advanced8998 seems you misread her comment...
@@advanced8998he/she respects the guy because, even though he's being taken advantage of, he still dresses his best. perspective, my friend.
This is so informative. I showed my 8-yr-old daughter. I had to explain why I show her. The vanilla on our shelf has a long story before it arrived on the grocery store shelf when we bought it. Many people touched the vanilla, stressed over it; impoverished children are in jail for years without trial because they are accused of trying to steal it. Where are their parents? These are questions we didn't ask before as we put vanilla in our cookies and pancakes.
The documentary also evokes questions about governmental responsibility to promote justice, stability, and security in Madagascar. It matters to see the farmer's family and what his dinner table looks like. It matters to see all the workers at the processing plant, dressed for work and running in the rain to protect this precious crop. Market demand can be separated from the life story of the vanilla, and it shouldn't be that way. There is no such thing as a well-informed and responsible consumer, but it would be required in a just world. The market has no need for that story. It wants to tell stories that promote consumption only.
I am disgusted that so many of the comments here focus on personal investment / profiteering. My interest is in educating our consumer population.
Lady, your vanilla is made synthetically.... Its vanilla extract is synthesized variously from pine bark, clove oil, rice bran, and lignin.
@@nostro1940 azure market organic extract comes from Mexico and doesn't have those additives. Most vanilla sold in the US is probably not authentic, but if you shop at a food coop, it probably is.
A young African 12yrs old boy invented how to cultivate vanilla!!!❤
So he got $17 for a kg of green beans. After drying, the weight reduces by 60%. So basically, he got paid $42/kg when the selling price is $250/kg.
The answer to all "Why is this so expensive" is 'middle men making money'.
It does take a lot of employees and infrastructure to process and package the beans and ship them to Europe. before it is worth $250. If he could set up a small processing operation to process his own crop, and possibly that of a couple of other farmers, then he could see a lot higher profit.. It does seem low, though. Even 5 more dollars a kilo for the farmer would make a huge difference.
@@Joe-sg9llyou’re the only one mentioning a “racist colonizer” here buddy. You lost the plot lol
$42/kg isn’t bad considering all the logistics requirements to get to final product. That’s close to 20%.
I guess they could earn more. However, after the beans are collected the processing and logistics are not simple and probably quite expensive
@@rafael68165 did you just see the processing? It's not complicated at all. Logistics in typical market are not that expensive ether. I guess there are some other barriers that don't allow farmers do their own processing. Even if you consider the 60% loss of weight from drying, that would be 17% share of the selling price. This is ridiculously low!
So sad that this is the reason why Vanilla Extract costs $10/bottle and still the real heroes, the farmers, get diddly do squat out of it.
That's how farming of every single thing on earth works.
I feel bad for Edmond & his discovery. Didn't get credit for it and died in poverty.
Vanilla farmers are not selling directly to supermarkets.
Back in the 1950's housewives used to get drunk on vanilla extract.
You should look at grocery markup on typical produce vs what farmers are paid in the US. There is a reason a good chuck of tax dollars go to subsidies for agricultural efforts. - _-
Heartbreaking to see that farmers do so much for so very little in return. 😭
It is interesting to see the process behind it all.
I greatly appreciate this video's recognition of Edmond Albius. Too often, masters and employers continue to take credit (and profit) for the discoveries and advances of the people they exploit or enslave.
It continues even now.
Yeah, That Elon manchild is the primary one
According to an Al Jazeera documentary on the same subject the issue is Chinese investors and buyers on the island. The name of the documentary is People and Power: Madagascar's Chinese Vanilla
Chinese stick their influence everywhere they can make a penny. There must be a chink in their armour to prevent this happening everywhere.
Business Insider, a very sad but enlightening video but still appreciated. The exploitation of the farmers and children stealing just to eat is heartbreaking. Man has not changed, and appears never will.
This the type video that makes you say "wow thank you CZcams for making me learn something new at 2am when I should be asleep"
Farmers are amazing and should be paid more
Vanilla is the finest of the flavors
WTF!!? $17 for a whole sack of vanilla while costco sells their Madagascar vanilla bean for $35 a piece wow this people deserves so much for their hard work.
I just bought 2 tubes of vanilla beans (10 pods total) for less than $20 at Costco. 🙄
But think of Costcos shareholders who will make them rich
@@farticlesofconflatulation every costco is different mine happens to be 35🙄🙄
@@an4082 “costco sells their Madagascar vanilla bean for $35 a piece”
yeah, that makes total sense if you’re paying in Mexican pesos.
$17 a kilo. The bags hold 40 kilos
Wow, very interesting, I didn't know that growing and preparing vanilla was such a painstaking process. I feel for the farmers, they are the one's basically doing all the work!
a cooperative needs to be formed and then a system to control the flow of vanilla to the market. Seems that the government has been corrupted to the extent that it has not been looking out for the source, which are the farmers whom are made to live in poverty.
Yeah that place he sold his beans? is a cooperative. Did you watch the video? Your video watching comprehension is low.
Burned!
C A P I T A L I S M
At its finest while we home watching CZcams videos stuffing our faces profiting from it
Vanilla is difficult to process. The workers have worked endless hours in order to keep with the immense production of said ingredient.
Jesus loves you all!
Remember that He died and rose up again for you to be in heaven with Him! Believe on His name and repent of your sins and be saved!
Have an amazing day ❤️😊
@@Gg-ij7li this that post church energy, unnecessary words but thank you anyways
What a beautiful thing, one man, on his land, pollinating his flowers. They bloom for one day, remember this when you savor vanilla flavor..
I purchased a large bottle (500 ml) of Madagascar vanilla 6 years ago for $30. A few months ago, I saw the same bottle priced at $150.00. So glad I bought many bottles before the price went up as I bake a lot.
Does that stuff expire? How exactly do you use it when baking?
@@pirateslifeforme if its extracted no, the alcohol keeps bacteria out
Vainilla and Chocolate from Mexico with Love.
The farmer needs to be empowered to process the vanilla at home. Not much mechanization is involved in making vanilla ready for export. Washing, cooking in boiling water and drying in the sun can be done at cottage level. This small effort will increase the value of the product to the farmer 20 fold.
How do you empower them?
@@civilengineer3349to encourage and share knowledge, with the intention of showing someone to become more self sufficient.
@@civilengineer3349 Show them this video
I think you missed the export part. It doesn't matter if you can process things if you can't sell it. And who will help them sell it? Another middleman.
@Moshe Ojanga I do all the process above every well but exporting it and finding a market becomes a problem
Same thing with wild pine mushroom/Matsutake mushroom pickers in North central British Columbia here in the Skeena Valley. Pickers get $8-12 CAD per 500 grams, but by the time the mushrooms get to Asia, they command WAY more $$$ than the pickers get for all their hard work. The mushroom consumers in Asia would 'plotz' if they seen how 'cheap' the mushrooms they crave cost in Canada VS what they pay where they live before they eat them.
So why don't the pickers just go directly and sell them in Asia, instead of sell them to a middle man?
The answer of course is that they would rather not have to do all the work necessary and incur the expenses and risk of the many facets, time and tasks needed to do so.
I have to wonder sometimes.... does anyone ever think or look past the end of their noses anymore? Ah, no...because it's easier to just assume that yet another poor oppressed person or group must have been taken advantage of, and let that wonderful feeling of moral altitude well up and spill over into a comment of fake 'concern for others'.
These videos are so incredibly well made. Thank you!
Thanks, I had no idea where Vanilla came from, or how it is grown and processed. I hope the farmers keep control and get a true reward for their efforts, but I often live in hope.
It deserves a better title than "Plain Vanilla".
13:06 When the scale still has the protective cover over the display
It's an African quirk
It's in English so maybe they don't even know
As a person living in a third world country, I understand that
They can probably understand French but English?
How are more of the comments not about Edmond Albius? That's incredible insight from a 12-year-old.
Wow the journey of a vanilla bean until we get them. I have so much respect for these farmers . Thank you!
With all this work, they deserve to at minimum not worry about food, shelter and basic needs :(
no matter the inflation, farmers need to be paid at least the same base amount that is worth the work they put in!
i was just looking to buy vanilla beans and was surprised but not surprised by the price.
I liked seeing the vanilla specks in the ice cream. Seems like most of it is so artificial it doesn't even melt.
the farmer's voice is quite soothing, will earn more bucks if he starts doing a podcast
It can be grown on cacao or coffee trees, which in turn can be grown in the shade of other fruit trees or nitrogen fixing trees.
its amazing the amount of hard work these poof farmers put in, big respect
I paid $17 dollars for one bean the other day at the grocery store. After seeing this I'm fairly certain it was only half a bean...there must be some awfully hard working middle men.
Edmond Albius was born a slave, yet is still remembered for his innovation and skills, while his slave master is long forgotten. Well done Edmond Albius and thank you.
I eat vanilla pods almost every day in my smoothie😋 *Thank you* for your service 👩🌾🧑🌾
This is all ignoring the fact that literally 99% of all vanilla flavoring in the market is artificially created.
It's not ignoring it.
It's irrelevant to mention.
The main reason we use so much artificial vanilla, is because not real vanilla is grown......
I wasted a LOT of money on beans from other countries (the WORST is Papua New Guinea) before realizing that Madagascar vanilla is the only one that's a consistently reliable value/price option. They have minimum national standards and the grading is generally reliable. At last purchase I was paying $210/8oz (through Peterson, here in Seattle) for Madagascar A. They were consistent size/thickness and moisture/'caviar' content, and the flavor was excellent. If I don't get it there I'll bite the bullet and pay through the nose for good quality V.Tahitensis or Pompana (the Vanillery in Hawaii looks promising for the latter). In the end vanilla from a bean is unbeatable (IMHO, and for certain applications).
most vanilla extract is fake but expensive. the real vanilla is SO much more expensive
That's why I love farmers ❤️
Mexican Vanilla is top quality and is much more affordable.
Anyone who visits should plan on bringing several bottles back.
Must be marked as genuine
Vanilla.
What an excellent and interesting video!!
Tha k you farmers for your sacrifice and service! I wished more people were grateful for what they got!!
Absolutely fascinating. Really great documentary!
This is why all eaters should respect the work farmers do daily globally. We the eaters should support farmers more and pay them their worth! ❤
So what is their worth?
Who are you to decide?
And how are you going to decide?
It's called market forces. Market forces are best at deciding value.
Not some stupid you telling the rest of us what the value of something is.
Oh wait...your username.
Ah, no wonder.
True. 80% of the food is imported in Africa acording to the OECD. Thank all those hardworking European farmers for feeding Africa.
@@GratDuForloradeArgumentet Another racist comment about 'whit e is beter than balck peple haha'
There will always be traders who want to sell under $250/KG. The dealers dominate the market. Exactly the same issue as with turmeric.
I love vanillas. These guys are the coolest. I wish they can produce vanilla beans more stably and get financially better someday.
Thanks for your input. 😊
It's the same with Coffee, the fluctuations on prices are insane.
Interesting fact is , everyone drinks coffee every day, yet farmers who take all risk against the nature is a poor guy .
However i saw a 33grams of sachet in Starbucks at $10 but we the farmers sell 50Kg bag at $150
Which means the roughly approx of Starbucks sells is at $10,000 per 50kg bag
I am highly appreciative of the well informed narration of this video and credit attributed to the history.
This is ridiculous those farmers should get so much more. $17 for a kilo? I purchased 1 vanilla bean this week and it cost $15.75 for 1 bean!!!
Very annoying how can someone farm for the whole year only for thieves to steal overnight
I am from Kerala India where the climate and terrain is the same
We had a vanilla boom time in 2005-2007 and my father just like many other farmers here did vanilla but then price went rock bottom and everyone stopped it
Now nobody do vanilla here
I remember doing flower pollination when I was in higher school😅
Same even we have vanilla pods growing in parambu for no reason, we do literally nothing but tons grow anyways.
Great video. Especially about the generous young man who never received the money or recognition due. That's for respecting his history.
Very nice and informative. Thanks alot
I had no idea that's what fresh vanilla pods looked like.
Anywhere that people are taken advantage of like this, we need to put the companies that are profiting on blast.
I watched another documentary on the vanilla trade. I'm more considerate of my vanilla now.
I don't like that industry exploits poverty and enables crime.
As an American business owner with a business partner in Uganda. We practice sustainable organic agriculture and we see this all the time.
The big problem is a lot of the world wants to buy organic and they want sustainable agriculture, but there's not enough education on why the price needs to be so high.
We get asked so many times. Why are you charging so much more and then once I explain it goes back to the farmers, we create new opportunities, we own our own cooperative, we're creating new sources of sustainable trade, people have no problem paying that.
I think if we want to change the world for the better we have to do a lot more in really educating buyers in all countries.
Fun fact : Saffron is the #1 most expensive spice.
Fact: Three times more vanilla is bought than saffron, and three times more money is made with vanilla compared to saffron. Vanilla is much more important than saffron.
An approximate purchase value of 8700 tones of vanilla is produced in the world each year. $2,175,000 million.
Only 200 tons of saffron are produced in the world every year, 170 to 180 tons come from Iran. 200 tons corresponds to a market value of 800,000 dollars
Oddly enough, there is a vanilla farm in the area where I live in south-east Queensland. It is small-scale, but it services some of the locals.
To the farmers of Madagascar, good on them for protecting their hard earned income. The 'she'll be right' mentality is idiotic when it comes to theft as it never addresses the problem. Sometime citizens need to do it themselves.
A country can't rely on ONE product to pull out of poverty.
All my favourite parfumes got this treasure in it.
What an incredible orcheed.
This is the issue with monocultures. Having to rely on just one species for income is a recipe for failure.
And while you don’t have to worry about crop rotation (since this is an orchid no nutrients are exhausted; like corn or root veggies) in this case, you still lose genetic diversity and are vulnerable to pests and pathogens.
Wal Mart sells madagascar vanilla for $10-14 per bean and their prices are fairly consistent... they buy the DRIED brown bean pods by the ton, often for less than $50/Kg ($15/kg for fresh green pods) & theres 300-400 pods per Kg, so thats $3000-$5600 PROFIT per kilogram and a single farmer can easily have as much as 150 Kg/harvest.... that works out to $840,000 per farmer with 150kg if they processed it, but only $2600 (best case scenario) if they sell green vanilla to a coop.
the govt is making a buttload off export fees and taxes though.
Vanilla native from Mexico and share to the world. Chocolate chili pepper 🌶 and many many things that we use and enjoy. Thank you America continent land of the GODS.
Why is it that the more i learn about our planet, the more sad and bleak the world becomes ?
It’s greediness 😢😢
It’s greediness 😢😢
go to papantla in the state of veracruz in mexico, its the original capital of vainilla, xanath or tlilxochitl (black flower)
I do not intend to defend the traders, but the most important point that the narrator missed out completely is the fact that Vanilla reduces in weight tremendously by the time it is processed & ready for export. 6 kg of raw pods are needed to make 1kg of cured pods.
Second most expensive after Saffron if anyone was wondering 🙂
I wonder if they have removed the protective cover on the scale display yet? Must be hard to read...
Ok, so I wasn’t the only one to notice that. Lol
@@Khaleesi_Jack Haha, nope. :)
I just come back from a trip to Europe and I’m falling in love with the quality of tea, vanilla and chocolate there. It’s quite surprising to me that countries that not plants those ingredients themselves are actually a big distributor and hoarding all high quality ones.
Amazing that we are talking about the second most expensive spice and poverty for the growers of it in the same sentence.