Night of the Living Cavendish - How Bananas Rule Our Lives

Elle Campbell
Word Count: 1233

There’s an army of clones that has taken over America. They’re a part of our everyday lives, so much that they’ve infiltrated our media. Most people don’t even know these clones exist because they’re so acclimated to the USA. These clones play such a large part in our lives, but we know virtually nothing about what they are or where they come from.

Crazy, right?

What if I told you they’re all dying?

Sounds like a good sci-fi movie. The clone army slowly rises to power, but some very smart people realize it and go on a clone-killing rampage with a lot of pyrotechnics and slow-motion shots. It would probably break box office records.

But really, fun put aside, this inconceivable scenario is playing out in our grocery stores today. Everyone’s favorite clone, the banana, is dying by the thousands because of monoculture farming.

To understand this scenario more deeply, I’ll first define monocropping, illustrate the demise of the banana, then ask how we got here.

Simply put, monocropping is the practice of planting or raising only one species of crop on any given farm. The practice in itself isn’t very unique, it’s done all over the world to maximise profit. It’s easier to sell one item in large quantities to large buyers than selling many items in small quantities to small buyers. Specializing in a certain crop makes production cheaper in the long term, because buying expensive pieces of equipment and innovating new technology can create a higher yield.

This monocropping culture is described at length in Michael Pollan’s Botany of Desire, where he talks about the Russet potato as America’s vehicle for beautiful french fries. Consistency is key, especially when we’re talking about potato-y goodness. With monocropping, potatoes become much more standardized in their size, shape, taste, and genes. The latter is the issue here. By growing a multitude of genetically similar plants with no diversity, it opens them up for widespread disease. This is one of the main factors that lead to the Irish Potato Famine, an event that lead to the death of 2 million Irish citizens and countless potatoes. You’d think we would do everything in our power to prevent this type of problem from happening again.

Enter: The Banana

As shown by this video, bananas are dying because of this farming practice. Over 90% of bananas exported to the united states are genetic clones. This is because bananas are bred not to have seeds, so to create a new tree, clippings are taken from an already existing tree and planted into the ground. Effectively, this creates a genetic clone of the first tree that will produce similar fruit. From a capitalistic perspective, this perpetuates profit by standardizing product. From a genetic standpoint, problems start to arise.

Problems come when disease sweeps through banana crops, like Panama disease. Panama disease is a fungal plant disease that attacks the roots of a banana tree and renders it useless. The disease is currently only in Pakistan, the Phillippines, & Indonesia, but has potential to spread elsewhere and devastate farmers across the globe.

This may seem shocking, but it gets even worse when you learn it’s the SECOND TIME this has happened. In the 1960’s, the Gros Michael banana was virtually wiped out from the same disease in the same way. Obviously, learning from our mistakes isn’t our strong suit.

Currently, scientists are working on breeding

So, now begs the question, how did we get here?

It’s easy to ask why we don’t grow different kinds of bananas, but the answer is hard. I’d argue we grow only one kind of banana because it’s popular, it makes money, and it’s relatively stable.

Popular: Bananas are eaten all over the world. The banana has become so standardized, it’s now the most widely consumed fresh fruit in the USA. We put them in bread, we give them to our children, we eat them straight. People love bananas.

Without the widespread production through monocropping, this HUGE demand certainly wouldn’t be satisfied, and a lot of money would be lost.

Cash Motive: Because bananas are so bombatious, there’s a gigantic market for them. In 2012 alone, there were over 14 million tonnes of bananas imported across the world. To put it in perspective, that’s 2.5 times the weight of The Great Pyramid of Giza.

In North America alone, imports of bananas for just one year are valued at $2.183 billion.  Without monocropping, disenfranchised communities likely wouldn’t have the access to this kind of fresh fruit we all enjoy. Without these gigantic farms specializing in a certain crop, produce prices would likely reflect that of local farmers’ markets. These prices may seem reasonable for a middle class family, but for a family that has to work 60+ hours a week, this just isn’t realistic. With the competitive prices on fresh fruit now, lower class families can afford bananas as an alternative to a $2 burger at McDonalds. In fact, banana prices are so competitive that grocery stores keep them right around 79 cents a pound.

Stability: In the 1900’s, the vast majority of Americans had no idea the banana even existed. It was an exotic, tropical fruit that you could only get near the equator, if you were lucky. Now, people across the world can enjoy essentially the same banana. As previously mentioned, different socioeconomic groups can also access the banana. Both the upper and lower classes can eat their fill of banana bread if they wish. Also in terms of stability, the Cavendish was bred to transport well. A load of bananas can stay in the hold of a ship for a week, if treated correctly. This further spreads the banana to all corners of the globe. If we were to diversify our banana consumption, populations across the world likely wouldn’t have the same varieties, due to different cargo hold time. It’s much easier to maintain one type of (relatively) stable banana, than to maintain 4 different species with different needs.

So, the “Return of the Cavendish” might not be the next smash-hit sci-fi movie coming this fall, but this phenomenon could certainly affect the world’s food market. Reconfiguring institutional monocropping may not be realistic, but there are certainly steps we can take to diversify our stores. Eat more than one species of potato. Eat from your local farmer’s market if you can. Enjoy your Cavendishes while they’re still here.