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The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

nationalgeographic.com

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Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#111

Post by latchkey »

dragonwriter wrote: post #109
latchkey wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we don't have a suitable replacement That is your opinion. I've been lucky enough to taste plenty of other banana strains and there are definitely better banana's than Cavendish. The smaller ones that you generally get in this region, that are really ugly on the outside, taste so much better. > you've seen a few big banana plantations More than 'a few'... literally 3 whole countries worth. There is absolutely no sh…

> I'm not saying that this disease isn't a problem, but I have hard time believing it is a catastrophic problem for all bananas. It's a catastrophic problem for the existing commercial banana industry, not for “all bananas”.

> the existing commercial banana industry

You mean in the US or elsewhere? The US is only 25% of the total market. While a big number, there are far larger consumers of bananas. 'it is important to note that only 15 percent of banana production is traded in the international market'.

It sounds like people might have to learn to eat another type of banana. It has already happened when the market switched from Gros Michael to Cavendish. Given that there is 1000 varieties of bananas out there, that is a marketing problem, not a catastrophic problem.

http://www.fao.org/economic/est/est-commodities/bananas/bana...

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#112

Post by mort96 »

chewbacha wrote: post #20
anfilt wrote: post #8

I find it weird that people would not like other variety of bananas. Like there are generally more than one type of apples, potatoes, onions, tomotoes, and lettuce at most grocery stores. I would like the choice.

If memory serves, bananas are only profitable as a monoculture. In addition to bananas being triploidy and unable to seed, it’s basically impossible to grow and establish the seedless variety of plant by any other means other than cloning. It’s a pretty unique fruit and it’s economy has tumbled in the past already got these very reasons.

Why do bananas have to be seedless?

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#113

Post by anhner »

burfog wrote: post #106
anfilt wrote: post #8

I find it weird that people would not like other variety of bananas. Like there are generally more than one type of apples, potatoes, onions, tomotoes, and lettuce at most grocery stores. I would like the choice.

With most of those, each type has a distinct use. Granny Smith apples are for baking, McIntosh apples are for eating fresh, Red Delicious apples are for decoration, and the rest serve no purpose. Russet potatoes are for baking, stew, and fries. Purple potatoes are for frying up with steak. The rest serve no purpose. It's different with bananas. Cavendish is good. Maybe the Gros Michel is good too, but I wouldn't know…

If you truly think other apples/potatoes serve no purpose, I feel sorry for you.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#115

Post by pfdietz »

wallace_f wrote: post #99
krageon wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Saying that you don't trust a scientist with only a tenuous grasp (because that is all we have) of what nutrition is or should be (and what things might be harmful over 10-30 years) to make grand and sweeping changes to how an organism works is not feeling over reason. It is a different form of risk-management, one that you might not agree with (and that's fine).

I think part of the problem is with what people are assuming. There is in fact a large, obvious population of people who are emotionally scared of GMOs. Unfortunately, that group has given anybody who question GMOs a bad name. This kind of thing is unfortunately true for many things in life. And ironically, if what I am saying is true, it is the grandparent who, while accusing of irrational reasoning, has not reasone…

Whenever I see anyone attempt to defend their anti-GMO positions, they inevitably devolve into vague "well, it might be bad". Since this is literally true of ANYTHING new, the focus on GMOs is being driven by some irrational subtext.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#116

Post by Retric »

chr1 wrote: post #102
ptah wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yip, and they are about to become a cautionary tale about GMO it seems. monoculture was once the height of scientific farming techniques. unintended consequences seems to be an unknown consequence of scientism, the religious zealotry that some have for science

They have potential to become the first widely used GMO, as it will be easy to add immunity to this fungus with a small CRISPR edit.

Many GMO’s are very common already. 1/2 of all soybeans are GMO.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#117

Post by ferzul »

fouc wrote: post #52
latchkey wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found that when you first bite into the outside, it was good, but as you got into the center, it had a very bad taste that ruined the experience of the outside. It was a weird and totally unexpected thing for me since I normally love bananas. I tried stopping at several different vendors (stands) on the roadside to make sure it wasn't just one. I was mostly north of Vientiane, so maybe the southern ones are better.

There's definitely a few different strains of bananas in asia, it's not uncommon to see 2-3 different types of bananas being sold right next to each other in the markets. The most obvious indicator to me is the size of the individual bananas, the smaller ones taste pretty weird to me. OH, and also I assume there's a bit of a taste difference with the bananas we're used to because they weren't dosed in Ethlyene to has…

2-3 doesn't sound like much, even in australia we have that

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#118

Post by marble-drink »

anfilt wrote: post #8

I find it weird that people would not like other variety of bananas. Like there are generally more than one type of apples, potatoes, onions, tomotoes, and lettuce at most grocery stores. I would like the choice.

Bananas are the chicken breast of fruit. Boring/predictable, depending on your perspective.

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#119

Post by acd »

Cavendish banana are monoculture clones from the same original banana. That means that any disease that attacks one can attack all since the banana share the same dna and protective mechanism.

The solution is not to clone with the same dna. also not to use pesticides which kills bees and insects. Pesticide will not only kill bugs they will kill all insects a like.

“Cavendish bananas were named after William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire. Though they were not the first known banana specimens in Europe, in around 1834 Cavendish received a shipment of bananas (from Mauritius) courtesy of the chaplain of Alton Towers (then the seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury).” Source https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_banana

Re: The fungus that devastates the Cavendish banana has now arrived in Latin America

#120

Post by ctack »

marble-drink wrote: post #118
anfilt wrote: post #8

I find it weird that people would not like other variety of bananas. Like there are generally more than one type of apples, potatoes, onions, tomotoes, and lettuce at most grocery stores. I would like the choice.

Bananas are the chicken breast of fruit. Boring/predictable, depending on your perspective.

I love them. They're a fruit, but are non-messy, not tart, easy to eat and calorifically denser than most other fruit. Like a healthy mini meal on the run.
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