Our growing demand for coconuts has come at the same time stronger-than-usual hurricanes and droughts have destroyed or damaged coconut plantations. A lethal yellowing disease has killed other coconut palms, and in some areas, new trees haven't been planted fast enough. All of this has led to a 17 percent decrease in coconut plantations since 1994, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

“It’s fair to say that at this pace, the Caribbean is running out of coconuts,” Compton Paul, coordinator of a regional coconut program at the Trinidad-based Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute, told Bloomberg News.