Lesson video

Hi, Mrs. (indistinct) here.

I am a primary school teacher that loves teaching geography, so I'm super excited to be joining you for today's lesson, especially because I've had a peek sneak and I think it's quite an exciting topic.

So, let's get on with it, shall we? Let's find out what we're doing today.

Today's lesson is making our food, which is part of our "Farms and factories: Where does our food come from?" unit.

By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to describe how cocoa has grown and the processes involved in manufacturing chocolate, as well as identify some of the challenges facing small scale cocoa farmers.

There are some keywords in today's lesson.

We have latitude, supply chain, retailer, manufacturer, and cooperative.

Let's do my turn, your turn.

Latitude.

Supply chain.

Retailer.

Manufacturer.

Cooperative.

Let's see what those words mean, shall we? Lines of latitude are imaginary lines on Earth showing position north or south of the Equator, measured in degrees.

A supply chain is every step a product goes through to be made and delivered to the customer.

Retailers are people or businesses that sell goods.

A manufacturer is a person or company that makes goods to sell, and a cooperative is a business or group that is run by the people who work for it.

So look out for some of these words in today's lesson.

Today's lesson is split into two parts.

How is chocolate made, and what challenges do cocoa farmers face? So let's start with how is chocolate made? Everything we eat has a story.

We are going to be investigating the story of chocolate from cocoa pods to the chocolate bars many of us like to eat.

This world map shows where cocoa beans come from.

What does this distribution tell you about the type of climate where cocoa trees grow best? Pause the video, have a look at the map, and then come back when you are ready.

Most cocoa trees grow between a latitude of 10 degrees north and 10 degrees south of the equator in Africa, South America, and Asia.

And you can see that on the map here, can't you? Cocoa trees need a hot and humid climate with lots of rain.

They grow best in the shade of taller trees.

So, let's do a quick check, shall we? True or false, cocoa trees are widely grown in Europe? Once you've decided if this is true or false, I want you to justify your answer with either a or b.

A, most cocoa trees are in the southern hemisphere, or b, most cocoa trees grow between a latitude of 10 degrees north and 10 degrees south of the equator.

So, one more time.

You are going to decide if this statement is true or false.

Cocoa trees are widely grown in Europe.

Once you've decided, you need to justify your answer with either a, most cocoa trees are in the southern hemisphere, or b, most cocoa trees grow between a latitude of 10 degrees north and 10 degrees south of the equator.

Pause the video, have a go, collect your answers, and then come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? If you said that it was false because b, most cocoa trees grow between a latitude of 10 degrees north and 10 degrees south of the equator, you would be correct.

Well done.

The cocoa beans grow in large pods on the tree, as we can see in this photograph here, can't we? They're quite colourful, aren't they? When the pods are ripe, they are knocked off the trees by hand and split open with special knives, and there we can see a photograph of one that's been split open.

The cocoa beans are scooped out from inside the pods.

They're covered in a sticky white substance which needs to be removed.

And you can see, can't you, the outline of the beans underneath that sticky white substance? So, time for a quick check.

Where are the cocoa beans found on the tree? A, bark, b, flowers, c, pods, or d, roots? So one more time, where are the cocoa beans found on the tree? A, bark, b, flowers, c, pods, or d, roots? Pause the video, have a go, and come back when you're ready to check.

How did you get on? If you said that cocoa beans are found in the pods, you would be correct.

Well done.

The beans are then spread out and covered with banana leaves to ferment for six or seven days.

This natural process helps the beans lose their bitter taste.

The beans are spread out on bamboo racks to dry in the sun and workers turn them over by raking to dry them evenly, and you can see someone doing that there in the photograph, can't you? After drying the beans are bagged up according to their size and colour.

Then they are ready for transport to a local factory or for export to other countries.

The bagged beans are weighed on large scales and auctioned to buyers from chocolate making companies all over the world.

And there's an example of a sack of cocoa beans.

So, let's do a quick check.

Which processes take place before the beans are put into bags? Select two answers, a, drying, b, fermenting, c, grinding, or d, roasting? So which processes take place before the beans are put into bags? Select two answers.

A, drying, b, fermenting, c, grinding, or d, roasting.

Pause the video, have a go, and when you're ready to check, come back.

How did you get on? If you said that it was a, drying, and b, fermenting, you would be correct.

Well done.

When the beans arrive at the factory, the beans are checked carefully and broken beans are removed.

Then the nibs are ground down or milled into a paste that consists of cocoa mass, or solids, and cocoa butter.

Next, the beans are roasted and the shells are separated from the inner part of the bean called the nib.

This separation process is called winnowing.

The cocoa mass and/or butter are then blended with other ingredients, such as sugar, to produce different sorts of chocolate.

This mixing process is called conching.

Then the chocolate is carefully heated, then cooled, then slightly reheated.

This process is called tempering.

It helps to give the chocolate a nice taste, texture, and appearance.

The chocolate is then moulded into the shapes needed before being packaged and transported to distributors and onto shops and supermarkets.

Time for a quick check.

Match conching, tempering, and winnowing with their correct descriptions.

The descriptions are separating the shells and nibs, inner parts of the beans, heating, cooling, and reheating of the chocolate, and continuous mixing of the chocolate ingredients at a set temperature.

So match conching, tempering, and winnowing with their correct descriptions.

Pause the video, have a go, and come back when you're ready to check your answers.

How did you get on? Conching is the continuous mixing of the chocolate ingredients at a set temperature.

Tempering is the heating, cooling, and reheating of the chocolate.

Winnowing is separating the shells and nibs, inner parts, of the beans.

If you didn't quite get them all right, now's your chance to make any changes.

And here's another quick check.

Order the stages of the chocolate making process.

The stages are conching, moulding, drying, roasting, fermenting, tempering, grinding, winnowing, and harvesting.

Pause the video, have a go, and come back when you're ready to check your answers.

How did you get on? So first we have harvesting, then two, fermenting, three, drying, four, roasting, five, winnowing, six, grinding, seven, conching, eight, tempering, and nine, moulding.

If you didn't get them all right, now's your chance to pause the video and make any corrections you need to make.

So, now it's time for your first task.

I want you to describe the stages of production for making chocolate, using the boxes to help you.

So you have the stages there, harvesting, fermenting, drying, roasting, winnowing, grinding, conching, tempering, and moulding.

I want you to describe each stage of production for making chocolate.

Pause the video, have a go, and then come back and we'll look at one that I've done.

How did you get on? So, I said that harvesting, the cocoa pods are cut down.

Fermenting, the beans are spread under banana leaves.

Drying, the beans are dried in the sun.

Roasting, the beans are checked and roasted.

Winnowing, the nibs and shells are separated.

Grinding, the nibs are ground to make a paste.

Conching, the paste is mixed with other ingredients.

Tempering, the chocolate is heated and cool, and moulding, the chocolate is shaped.

You might have put some extra details in, but if you've missed out anything important, now is your chance to pause the video and add it in.

So, we've had a look at how chocolate is made.

Now we'll have a look at what challenges do cocoa farmers face? About 6 million people around the world depend on cocoa farming to earn a living.

Most cocoa is grown by small scale farmers, people who grow crops on a small piece of land.

Cocoa farmers face different challenges.

What do you think these challenges might be? Pause the video, have a discussion, and come back and we'll have a look.

How did you get on? On average, cocoa farmers earn around 6% of the value of a bar of chocolate, which is that much right there.

That's not very much is it, when you look at the whole chocolate bar? And yet we couldn't have chocolate without cocoa farmers.

Who else is involved in the supply chain of chocolate, and where do you think the rest of the money goes? Pause the video, have a think, and come back when you are ready.

Well, most of the final value of a chocolate bar goes to retailers and manufacturers, as you can see here.

Processors get the next largest amount, then farmers, and finally, transport and marketing.

Why do you think that most of the final value of a chocolate bar goes to retailers and manufacturers? Pause the video, have a discussion, and come back when you're ready.

Unfair systems mean that cocoa farmers aren't always paid fairly for the crop they grow.

The price they are paid for their cocoa may be different each year, and this makes it difficult for farmers to know how much they are going to be paid for their cocoa beans.

What might be the consequences of these unfair prices on the lives of cocoa farmers and their families? Pause the video, have a discussion, and then we'll come back and have a look.

Let's have a check, shall we? True or false? When you buy a bar of chocolate, most of the money is going to the farmer who produced the cocoa beans.

Once you've decided if this is true or false, I want you to justify your answer with either a, most of the money goes to the chocolate retailers and manufacturers, or b, the money is divided equally between everyone involved in the supply chain of chocolate.

So, true or false, when you buy a bar of chocolate, most of the money is going to the farmer who produced the cocoa beans? And then justify your answer with a, most of the money goes to the chocolate retailers and manufacturers, or b, the money is divided equally between everyone involved in the supply chain of chocolate.

Pause the video, have a go, and then come back and check.

If you'd said false because a, most of the money goes to the chocolate retailers and manufacturers, you would be correct.

Well done.

Excuse me, that was a little bit squeaky.

Well done.

Climate change is affecting the habitats where cocoa trees grow.

Cocoa trees only grow in areas with the right rainfall, humidity, and temperatures.

And the climate in these regions is already changing, making them less suited for growing cocoa.

Climate change is also affecting the spread of pests and diseases.

Black pod disease is killing one in 10 cocoa trees globally.

So, time for a quick check.

True or false, climate change is making it difficult for farmers to grow cocoa? Once you've decided if this is true or false, justify your answer with either a, climate change is affecting where cocoa trees can grow and the spread of pests and diseases, or b, climate change is affecting all crops in the same way.

So deciding whether this statement is true or false, climate change is making it difficult for farmers to grow cocoa.

And then justify your answer with either a, climate change is affecting where cocoa trees can grow and the spread of pests and diseases, or b, climate change is affecting all crops in the same way.

Pause the video, have a go, and then come back when you're ready to check.

How did you get on? If you said that it was true because a, climate change is affecting where cocoa trees can grow and the spread of pests and diseases, you would be correct.

Well done.

Some cocoa farmers join together to form cooperatives.

This helps them to negotiate fairer prices for their beans.

This extra money can be used to help their community, for example, by building schools or providing training.

The fair trademark on a product shows that cocoa are being paid a fairer price for their cocoa beans.

And you can see they're a fair trade sticker on a banana.

So look out for that sticker on your products, and you know that a fair price is being paid to the farmers.

Fair trade also helps to improve the working conditions of cocoa farmers and protect the environment.

So, time for a check.

Think of a potential benefit of fair trade for cocoa farmers.

Pause the video, have a go, and come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? If you said any of these, you would've been correct.

Farmers paid a fairer price for their beans, improved working conditions for farmers, helps to protect the environment, or extra money for their communities.

We can use a consequence chain to think through the possible impacts of an event or an issue.

For example, if you were to get up late, you might miss the bus and then you are late for school.

Have a go at using a consequence chain to think through the possible impacts of an event or an issue, for example, maybe you have forgotten your lunch, or you forgot to let the dog outside first thing in the morning to go to the toilet.

I don't know.

Choose an issue and work through a consequence chain for it, and then you can share some of your ideas with the class.

Pause the video, come back when you're ready.

So, now that you know how a consequence chain works, let's have a look at task B.

For part one, I want you to use a consequence chain to think through the possible consequences of one of the challenges facing cocoa farmers.

Write one of the challenges in the starter circle and then write any possible impacts of this challenge in the next link of circles.

One consequence per circle.

Consider what the possible impacts of these consequences might be.

Write these in the outer link of circles, one consequence per circle.

And for part two, you're going to use the consequence chain to think through the possible consequences of one of the potential solutions to the challenges facing cocoa farmers.

Write one of the solutions in the starter circle.

Write any possible impacts of this solution in the next link of circles.

One consequence per circle.

And consider what the possible impacts of these consequences might be.

Write these in the outer link of circles, one consequence per circle.

So, for your challenge it might look like this, and for your solution it might look like this.

So, pause the video, have a go, and then come back when you're ready.

How did you get on? So, for my challenge, I picked unfair prices, which meant that the farmers might not be able to pay for healthcare, which would mean they're not able to see the doctor if they are ill.

Also, they might not be able to buy seeds to plant next year, which means they have a smaller harvest next year.

And finally, they might not be able to buy enough food, so their families go hungry.

And then for the solution, I said to join a fairtrade cooperative, you'd have better working conditions and you're less likely to get ill.

You have access to training and you can harvest more beans, and you have more money for school, food, and healthcare, and better health and education.

You might have thought of different answers to those.

If you missed any detail out or want to make any changes, now is your chance.

Pause the video and come back when you're ready.

So, here's a summary from making our food.

Most cocoa trees grow between a latitude of 10 degrees north and 10 degrees south of the Equator in Africa, South America, and Asia.

Various stages are involved in the production of chocolate, from growing and harvesting cocoa beans to the chocolate manufacturing process.

The value of the chocolate bar is not fairly distributed across the supply chain.

Manufacturers and retailers receive far more than farmers.

Small scale cocoa farmers face challenges with growing their crops and are adapting to these in different ways.

The challenges facing small scale cocoa farmers and the solutions to these have direct and indirect consequences on people's lives.

Farmers join cooperatives to try to improve their pay and working conditions.

Well done today, everybody.

It was a fascinating lesson, wasn't it? I'm definitely going to be looking out for those fairtrade stickers on my food from now on.

Thank you for listening so well and working so hard, and hopefully I'll see you for another lesson soon.

Bye.