5.7. The Global Supply of Bananas 🍌 is Threatened - Again. Monocultures and Pesticide Resistance

Before 1960, the main export banana was called the Gros Michel. Why can’t we eat the Gros Michel anymore today? Because it has become virtually extinct due to Panama disease affecting it over many decades, driving it to its eventual near-extinction. The fungi infection ravaged banana plants across the globe, from Asia to Africa, exterminating plant after plant. The fact that the fungi spread worldwide at a relatively rapid pace highlights a severe problem with our current agricultural practices. If a pest or disease figures out how to infect one of the banana plants, it has all the information it needs to infest all of them, as the same genetic material means the other plants have no defense left to fight against the disease. A solution needed to be found, and it presented itself in The Cavendish, a variety that was discovered to be almost entirely resistant to Panama disease. It quickly replaced the Gros Michel on plantations as the export banana and has become the banana we know and eat regularly today. Today, 99% of exported bananas and 47% of global banana production is the Cavendish variety. But now, our current flaky banana is threatened - as history repeats itself. The Panama disease is back, and it's upgraded. The new strain is called Tropical Race 4 and is found on Cavendish plantations across Asia, Australia, the Middle East, and Africa. Daniel Bebber, leading researcher of the BananEx research group at the University of Exeter, researches solutions for the spread of the Panama disease and puts it like this: "The story of the banana is really the story of modern agriculture exemplified in a single fruit. It has all the ingredients of equitability and sustainability issues, disease pressure, and climate change impact all in one. It's a very good lesson for us." These are great examples of the importance of understanding coupled human-environment systems. That's an environmental science concept that, in essence, says that humans impact the environment, and the climate impacts humans. It's essential to understand them both as systems, including many complex, interacting parts that form a whole working system. Red to Green is a podcast focused on the future of food and food sustainability. We cover topics like cellular agriculture, cultured meat, food waste, food packaging, and more. More info and links to resources on https://redtogreen.solutions/   For sponsorships, collaborations, volunteering, or feedback write Marina at [email protected] Please leave a review on iTunes https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/red-to-green-food-sustainability/id1511303510 Connect with Marina Schmidt https://www.linkedin.com/in/schmidt-marina/