Our great-grandparents might have dealt with the Great Depression, and they certainly didn’t have iPads to while away their hours, but they did have something we don’t—far superior bananas. Prior to the 1950s, the most widely distributed banana in the world was the “Gros Michel.” Unfortunately, the Gros Michel banana was nearly wiped out by a fungus called Panama Disease. Today, we enjoy a similar version of the banana called the Cavendish. The Cavendish is smaller, more fragile, and less tasty than the Gros Michel, but it has a resistance to the Panama Disease. But like the Gros Michel before it, the Cavendish is in big trouble. There’s a new strain of Panama Disease on the rise, and most scientists believe that it is only a matter of time before the Cavendish, which is susceptible to this version, will also disappear (functionally, that is—there are still Gros Michels around, just not enough to meet global demand).
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 22:42:58 +0000
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