“Popular Science: Can This Fruit Be Saved?”
In the early 1900’s the main variety of bananas died out. It was replaced with the banana we are all familiar with today, but our contemporary banana variety may too meet the fate of its predecesor. A recent popular science article explores this possibility.
“After 15,000 years of human cultivation, the banana is too perfect, lacking the genetic diversity that is key to species health. What can ail one banana can ail all. A fungus or bacterial disease that infects one plantation could march around the globe and destroy millions of bunches, leaving supermarket shelves empty.”
Will this be the end of bananas?
Any market that addresses a population eclectic enough for Latin American or Caribbean cuisine will carry everything from Plaintains to several other varieties of bananas. Callous though it sounds, if it’s the right color and close to the right size, the average supermarket customer probably won’t notice the difference.
My preference? The really little jobs called “figs” in most of the Caribbean. Much sweeter and creamier than Cavendish.
The Icelandic banana producers has a secret plan, hidden away in one of their greenhouses. From that distant land they can repopulate the worlds banana crop. All kidding aside some of the top bananas in banana research are working there.
This is hard to believe – We have banana trees in our yar and they are a weed that grows in clusters 10 feet across, unless they are hacked back. Once they give bananas, they then die, rot and smell putrid.
Genetic Engineering to the Rescue! At this stage in the game, I don’t think it’s really possible for them to be completely wiped out, and even if a disease does strike them, some enterprising company will create a GMO version of the conventional banana that is immune. Heck, they could also make it secrete an anti-monkey poison which could be done by splicing it with the wild almond.
I, for one, welcome our disease-free , genetically superior, super bananas.
– ME –
If all else fails, we can just eat banana slugs. They don’t have the potassium, but their protien is out the roof.
Genetic selection and engineering wil have ire consequences in the long run for humanity. Do you realize that genetically manipulated crops are quickly pushing ‘regular’ crops out of the way, taking over our food chain. These are crops that are engineered so that they are sterile, and farmers have to buy new seed crop every planting cycle. Suppose something happens to the engineered crop or the company that makes it. Because we have not been planting regular crop, there is no seed to plant, and massive hunger ensues. That is the current reality in the USA; if Monsanto stopped producing GE grain. we have little to plant in it’s place for at least a couple of seasons.
This may be true, and it may be a ploy to raise the price of the banana, which just happens to be the world’s most popular fruit!
Do you guys actually believe that bs? Probably some scam done by some multinational to promote their GM bananas.
There are still wild bananas growing and they are used by companies to breed them with domestic seedless ones in order to develop new disease resistant varietis.
Genetic Manipulation has unknown implications for the future of humanity. Used properly, such technologies could prove to have the greatest positive influence on humanity since people started learning agriculture. Used improperly, it could kill most of us.
As with pretty much all things, it will be somewhere in the middle. But it’s here to stay. Accept what you cannot stop and guide it along a proper path. Ignore it at your peril.
– ME –
Most of our food that we eat today is just the result of genetic manipulation, aka cross-breeding.