Eek, the price of vanilla!

[Hortensis]

10. As Kimbutgar says. #1 cause of skyrocketing prices will be climate change.

No saying one cyclone can be chalked up to that, of course, but from Quartz Media in August:

As a huge tropical storm drifted westward across the Indian Ocean in March, it set itself on a collision course with the world’s sweet tooth.

Cyclone Enawo wreaked havoc on Madagascar, inflicting enough damage on the world’s biggest vanilla producer to roil the global vanilla trade and send prices to a record high of more than $600 per kilogram. And as farmers on the ground have worked to recover in subsequent months, those prices have trickled down to consumers in places thousands of miles away from the island nation.

I remember a couple years ago when limes went through the roof. In my nice safe kitchen I googled to find out why my little limes were so expensive. Turned out out drug cartels were shaking down lime growers in central America. Most of course had to knuckle and pass the price on, but others armed themselves and were fighting, making me wonder if my limes were harvested and trucked out under armed guard. Lime wars.