Cacao

The source of all chocolate depends on a pollinator most people have never heard of. Cacao flowers are pollinated primarily by midges - tiny flies barely visible to the naked eye. The flowers are small, complex, and produce scent at dawn that attracts these midges. Without midges, cacao trees produce almost no pods. The global chocolate industry rests on the mating habits of these inconspicuous insects.

Midges require very specific conditions: moist shade, rotting leaf litter, and the microclimates found in traditional cacao agroforestry. Modern cacao monocultures often have lower midge populations because they lack the shaded, humid understory midges need. Intensifying production can reduce yields by eliminating pollinators - a paradox that seems like it should be impossible but follows directly from ignoring ecosystem dependencies.

Cacao's pollinator limitation explains chronically low fruit set. Only 1-5% of cacao flowers typically develop into pods. This isn't the tree's limitation; it's pollinator availability. Farmers have tried hand pollination with mixed results. The flowers are too small and numerous for economic hand pollination of entire plantations. The midge dependency remains.

The business insight is that bottlenecks may be invisible until crisis. Cacao depends on midges, but most chocolate consumers have no idea. The dependency only becomes visible when midge populations decline. Companies often have similar hidden dependencies - on specific employees, infrastructure systems, or market conditions - that seem invisible until they fail.