tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/bananas-1357/articlesBananas – The Conversation2023-07-06T20:21:44Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2078372023-07-06T20:21:44Z2023-07-06T20:21:44ZEggs are so expensive right now. What else can I use?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534516/original/file-20230628-21-na5m3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1279%2C852&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-in-a-black-shirt-cracking-an-egg-6944027/">Vlada Karpovich/Pexels</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The price of eggs <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-14/egg-shortage-high-prices-blamed-on-shift-from-cage-to-free-range/102474282">is rising</a>. So many of us may be looking for cheaper alternatives. </p>
<p>First, the bad news. Nothing can replace a boiled, poached or fried egg. </p>
<p>Now, the good news. Lots of other ingredients can make foods puff and rise, give your meal a rich taste, or hold together ingredients.</p>
<p>So try using some of these egg substitutes and save the real eggs for your breakfast.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-save-50-off-your-food-bill-and-still-eat-tasty-nutritious-meals-184152">How to save $50 off your food bill and still eat tasty, nutritious meals</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>Why are eggs so popular?</h2>
<p>Eggs are incredibly <a href="https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/afcd/pages/default.aspx">nutritious</a>. They’re a <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/3/684">rich source</a> of protein, vitamins A and D, pigments called carotenoids, and minerals.</p>
<p>Eggs are also versatile. We use them to make a range of savoury and sweet foods, sauces and drinks, not to mention breakfast.</p>
<p>Their popularity and versatility lies in the unique characteristics of the two main parts of the egg – the white and yolk. Each contribute <a href="https://www.amazon.com.au/Food-Cooking-Harold-McGee/dp/0684800012">different properties</a> in cooking.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/3/684">Egg yolk</a> is about 55% water, 27% fats, 16% protein (with small amounts of carbohydrate). <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/3/684">Egg white</a> is about 10% protein and 90% water, with only traces of fat and carbohydrates. Different types of protein in egg white contribute to them foaming when whisked.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/five-foods-that-used-to-be-bad-for-you-but-now-arent-50333">Five foods that used to be bad for you ... but now aren't</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Eggs are versatile</h2>
<p>Eggs have a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268005X2200131X?casa_token=1yXlEb1uvwQAAAAA:s3h5KCozwn-hjIn6kLOEoW45An255V6Z0G8TcJAQgTejfLEwV7nKqkS6VPWXiNkNxR4m5Mr2lHc">different role</a> in different types of cooking.</p>
<p><strong>1. Eggs are a raising agent</strong></p>
<p>Beaten or whisked eggs act as a raising agent by creating pockets of air in foods, which expand with cooking, making the foods puff and rise. This gives baked products like cakes, biscuits and muffins volume and an airy feel. </p>
<p>Using just the egg white leads to a remarkably light and delicate foam, as we see in meringues. In mousse and souffles the whites and the yolk are beaten separately, then mixed together. This leads to a light, airy and smooth texture. </p>
<p><strong>2. Eggs hold together other ingredients</strong></p>
<p>Eggs combine ingredients and hold them together during cooking. This gives foods – such as vegetable or meat patties – their structure.</p>
<p><strong>3. Eggs bind other liquids</strong></p>
<p>The liquid from eggs binds other liquids from other ingredients in the recipe into a soft, moist and tender mass. We see this in scrambled eggs, omelettes and egg custard.</p>
<p><strong>4. Eggs act as emulsifiers</strong></p>
<p>The egg yolk contains different proteins (livetin, phosvitin) and lipoproteins (lecithin). These act as emulsifiers, allowing fat and water to mix together in foods such as mayonnaise and hollandaise sauce.</p>
<p><strong>5. Eggs boost flavour</strong></p>
<p>The fat in egg yolks helps carry and release the flavour of some fat-soluble components of food. These foods <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224401000796">may taste differently</a> without the eggs. Eggs also contribute to foods feeling soft in the mouth.</p>
<p>As eggs have different roles in cooking, you may need different egg substitutes depending on the outcome you want. Here are some cheaper (and vegan) options.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/eight-cracking-facts-about-eggs-150797">Eight cracking facts about eggs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Aquafaba</h2>
<p>Aquafaba is the liquid drained from cans of bean – typically from chickpeas as it has the most neutral flavour. This is the all-round winner, especially as most of us probably throw it away without realising what a gem it is. </p>
<p>Aquafaba is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224421001424?casa_token=P45Z4G2SFdsAAAAA:DRy8adcAU_QHl96LONyWOEhUXvrExVZsJ18xKvc8OiPYeVKHSOkGOKefiixXFPY9UhdscEaHF70">versatile</a>. You can whip it up like egg whites to form a foam that can be used to make meringue (even pavlova), gelato, in baked goods, and for binding ingredients in patties. It also contains emulsifiers and can be used to make mayonnaise.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534518/original/file-20230628-15-2hvg8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chickpeas in strainer sitting over glass of aquafaba" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534518/original/file-20230628-15-2hvg8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534518/original/file-20230628-15-2hvg8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534518/original/file-20230628-15-2hvg8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534518/original/file-20230628-15-2hvg8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534518/original/file-20230628-15-2hvg8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534518/original/file-20230628-15-2hvg8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534518/original/file-20230628-15-2hvg8r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aquafaba is the liquid drained from cans of beans, usually chickpeas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-aquafaba-filtered-chickpea-broth-used-1907028793">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>You’ll need different quantities of aquafaba depending on the recipe. Generally, though, you use about two to three tablespoons of aquafaba to replace the volume of fluid from an egg.</p>
<p>On the downside, aquafaba can taste a bit beany. So it is best to use it with stronger flavours to overcome this.</p>
<p>Nutritionally, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0924224421001424?via%3Dihub">aquafaba</a> has small amounts of carbohydrate (about 2.6g/100 millilitre), and negligible levels of protein (about 1.3g/100 millilitre). </p>
<p>You can also freeze aquafaba.</p>
<h2>Vinegar and baking soda</h2>
<p>Mixing a teaspoon of baking soda with a tablespoon of vinegar can replace an egg in most baked goods. This produces carbon dioxide, which is trapped into air pockets, and makes foods rise.</p>
<p>This is a very cheap option, however its success may be limited by how heavy the rest of the ingredients are. This combination also has very little nutritional value.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-apple-cider-vinegar-really-a-wonder-food-86551">Is apple cider vinegar really a wonder food?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Commercial egg replacements</h2>
<p>These are available at most supermarkets, are very cheap compared with eggs, have a long shelf life, and are easy to use, with instructions on the packaging.</p>
<p>Typically, they contain different starches from potato, tapioca and pea protein (which act as leavening agents and form foams), along with raising agents. They are recommended for use in baked goods. However they have very little nutritional value compared to an egg.</p>
<h2>Flaxseed meal and chia seeds</h2>
<p>Use either a tablespoon of flaxseed meal, or chia seeds, added to about three tablespoons of water. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes to form a gel. </p>
<p>The gels can be used in baked goods, however this option isn’t as cheap as the others, and has a slight nutty taste. </p>
<p>Both these seeds provide nutritional value. They are both rich in the plant-based omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid. We <a href="https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article/59/6/1304/4715808">can convert</a> this fatty acid into healthy omega-3 fatty acids, but at a slow rate. These seeds also provide fibre, polyphenols and antioxidants.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534946/original/file-20230630-27-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Chia seeds in a bowl, in a spoon, spilling onto surface" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534946/original/file-20230630-27-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534946/original/file-20230630-27-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534946/original/file-20230630-27-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534946/original/file-20230630-27-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534946/original/file-20230630-27-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534946/original/file-20230630-27-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/534946/original/file-20230630-27-kgb8rn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">You can add chia seeds to water to form a gel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/healthy-chia-seeds-wooden-spoon-on-331447064">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-tiktoks-chia-lemon-internal-shower-really-beat-constipation-heres-what-science-says-188744">Does TikTok's chia-lemon 'internal shower' really beat constipation? Here's what science says</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Tofu</h2>
<p>Tofu, which is made from soybeans, is widely available and fairly cheap. It has the most “eggy” appearance and so makes it ideal as a substitute for scrambled eggs and in quiche. However, you will need to use silken tofu and puree it. </p>
<p>Tofu is highly nutritious and provides protein, fat, calcium, polyphenols and anti-oxidants. </p>
<p>You could also use soy flour. Add one tablespoon to three tablespoons of water, then use immediately in baking and for binding ingredients together. However, soy flour does not contain calcium, which tofu does.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-fake-meat-healthy-and-whats-actually-in-it-187532">Is fake meat healthy? And what's actually in it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Mashed fruit</h2>
<p>Mashed bananas or applesauce are also used as egg substitutes. These mainly act to bind and hold moisture in the food and help carry the flavours. </p>
<p>You also get the nutritional value of the fruit. Due to the natural sugar that in fruit, this will sweeten your baked goods so you will need to drop the sugar by about a tablespoon (or more) for each piece of fruit you add.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207837/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evangeline Mantzioris is affiliated with Alliance for Research in Nutrition, Exercise and Activity (ARENA) at the University of South Australia. Evangeline Mantzioris has received funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, and has been appointed to the National Health and Medical Research Council Dietary Guideline Expert Committee.</span></em></p>There are lots of other ingredients you can use to make foods puff and rise, give your meal a rich taste, or to hold together ingredients.Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1982932023-01-25T20:24:10Z2023-01-25T20:24:10ZGot gastro? Here’s why eating bananas helps but drinking flat lemonade might not<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506221/original/file-20230125-366-gqrc32.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=53%2C44%2C5919%2C3943&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1591865641966-2e0f86ba2a85?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8&auto=format&fit=crop&w=2070&q=80">Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Doctors are <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/gastroenteritis-sharp-spike-in-gastro-cases-due-to-poor-immunity-gp-warns/9fe43648-b468-4b3b-b3aa-e162e6e6a853">reportedly</a> concerned about a spike in the number of kids with gastroenteritis – when tummy infections can cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, fever, abdominal pain, headache and muscle aches. </p>
<p>Rotavirus is a common cause of gastroenteritis in children and the reported rotavirus rate in New South Wales so far <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/news/Pages/20230118_00.aspx#:%7E:text=In%20the%20first%20two%20weeks,next%20few%20weeks%20is%20important.">this year</a> is five times what it usually is. </p>
<p>While there’s a lot of gastroenteritis occurring, the good news is the vast majority of cases kids will have an uneventful recovery.</p>
<p>Still, parents and carers get a lot of conflicting advice about the food and drinks kids should consume during recovery from the illness. Let’s look at the evidence. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gastro-outbreak-how-does-it-spread-and-how-can-we-stop-it-a-gastroenterologist-explains-159329">Gastro outbreak: how does it spread, and how can we stop it? A gastroenterologist explains</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Old advice: the BRAT diet</h2>
<p>One widely known dietary recommendation when recovering from gastroenteritis is the BRAT diet. This stands for bananas, rice, applesauce and toast. These bland foods and are meant to be gentle on the gut, which is important when a person is recovering from gastroenteritis. </p>
<p>Applesauce is a distinctly American food product and indeed the first mention of this diet was in an <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-COMPREHENSIVE-PLAN-OF-TREATMENT-FOR-THE-SO-CALLED-Powers/e06fd3236648ac61efbaa9e5b4b2a052dc6c7ed4">American report in 1926</a> on the treatment of “intestinal intoxication” in children. </p>
<p>The BRAT diet was historically recommended but has fallen out of favour over the past couple of decades. There are no clinical trials on the diet itself but evidence to support it came from <a href="https://med.virginia.edu/ginutrition/wp-content/uploads/sites/199/2015/11/DuroArticle-June-07.pdf">studies</a> that demonstrated how each food in the BRAT diet could help with gastro recovery. </p>
<p>Bananas and apples are rich in a starch called pectin that can form a gel, which <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25809332/">helps</a> to treat diarrhoea. Green banana pulp and flour in particular was found to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6627159/">reduce</a> diarrhoea in children. Bananas are also a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3355124/">rich source</a> of potassium, which can help to replace potassium lost with diarrhoea. </p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1531430/">Rice-based oral rehydration solutions</a> (a drink made from a mixture of water, rice, glucose, sodium, and potassium salts) used to treat gastroenteritis reduce the volume of stools and duration of diarrhoea in patients. A study from <a href="https://www.gastrojournal.org/article/S0016-5085(01)89171-X/pdf">Bangladesh</a> on infants with persistent diarrhoea found a rice-based diet containing green banana or pectin improved stool consistency and reduced the duration more than a diet of rice alone. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506225/original/file-20230125-22-a722qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="girl eating several colourful icypoles" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506225/original/file-20230125-22-a722qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506225/original/file-20230125-22-a722qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506225/original/file-20230125-22-a722qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506225/original/file-20230125-22-a722qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506225/original/file-20230125-22-a722qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506225/original/file-20230125-22-a722qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506225/original/file-20230125-22-a722qd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In general, kids recovering from gastro don’t need a restricted diet.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/little-girl-eats-colorful-ice-cream-2015084648">Shutterstock</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-gastroenteritis-and-why-cant-i-get-rid-of-it-34351">Explainer: what is gastroenteritis and why can't I get rid of it?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Magic apples</h2>
<p>The use of apples to treat diarrhoea is thought <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/1176179">to have started</a> in Germany, where a nurse called Sister Frieda Klimsch used the fruit to treat dysentery (a severe form of gastroenteritis) in a hospital. </p>
<p>Another <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3411901">origin story</a> tells of how a doctor in a German prison camp noticed prisoners with dysentery who ate apples from a nearby orchard had shorter and milder illness. The doctor started encouraging them to eat apples to treat diarrhoea. </p>
<p>Eating apple peel was <a href="https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/14/77/43.full.pdf">observed</a> to lead to vomiting in infants in the 1930s and so the peel was removed. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3411901">Grated apple</a> was used to treat diarrhoea in children around the same period and was helpful in some cases. </p>
<p>Later, applesauce became the recommended form of apple for gastroenteritis recovery in the United States, and features in the BRAT diet. Interestingly, giving <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27131100/">diluted apple juice</a> to children with mild dehydration from gastroenteritis is both safe and effective.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506222/original/file-20230125-11-5zag6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="bowl of applesauce on benchtop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506222/original/file-20230125-11-5zag6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506222/original/file-20230125-11-5zag6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506222/original/file-20230125-11-5zag6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506222/original/file-20230125-11-5zag6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506222/original/file-20230125-11-5zag6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506222/original/file-20230125-11-5zag6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506222/original/file-20230125-11-5zag6g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Applesauce is a distinctly American product, but grated apple works too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1600984177310-c86c8f8fa9c7?ixlib=rb-4.0.3&ixid=MnwxMjA3fDB8MHxwaG90by1wYWdlfHx8fGVufDB8fHx8&auto=format&fit=crop&w=1770&q=80">Unsplash</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why gastro diet advice has changed</h2>
<p>Over the past 20 years or so most health professionals have come to the conclusion the restricted BRAT diet is unhealthy in gastroenteritis recovery because it is low in <a href="https://journals.lww.com/em-news/fulltext/2004/01000/brat_diet__axiom_or_unsubstantiated_myth_.21.aspx">protein, fat, and energy</a>. All these nutrients are necessary for healing.</p>
<p><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2301321/">Studies</a> have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/39/4/468/366339">shown</a>, in general, normal eating does not worsen the course of gastroenteritis. So it’s not necessary to restrict your child’s diet. Fasting when recovering from gastroenteritis is not recommended but it’s important to consider the child and ease into the reintroduction of foods. </p>
<p>It turns out fat, lactose and sucrose absorption during diarrhoea <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/41/Supplement_8/S547/569758">is limited</a> – so it’s sensible to <a href="https://journals.lww.com/em-news/fulltext/2004/01000/brat_diet__axiom_or_unsubstantiated_myth_.21.aspx">avoid fatty foods and foods high in simple sugars</a> (including juices and soft drinks) for moderate to severe diarrhoea as these could worsen symptoms. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/diarrhoea-stomach-ache-and-nausea-the-many-ways-covid-19-can-affect-your-gut-145440">Diarrhoea, stomach ache and nausea: the many ways COVID-19 can affect your gut</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Flat soft drinks?</h2>
<p>Flat soft drinks such as colas and lemonade warrant a special mention. Some view these drinks as an option to replenish fluids and glucose lost by vomiting and diarrhoea. But research has shown that this may not be a good idea. </p>
<p>One <a href="https://ep.bmj.com/content/93/4/129.2">British study</a> searched the medical literature going back to the 1950s for evidence to support the use of soft drinks in gastroenteritis. They found none. </p>
<p>Then the researchers compared the contents of colas and other sodas with commercially available oral-rehydration solutions containing electrolytes and small amounts of sugar. They found the soft drinks not only contained very low amounts of potassium, sodium and other electrolytes, but in some cases as much as seven times the glucose recommended by the World Health Organization for rehydration. </p>
<p>Carbonated drinks, flat or otherwise, are therefore not considered to provide adequate fluid or electrolytes and are not recommended. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506223/original/file-20230125-18584-lf5yg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="glass of orange liquid and sachet of powder" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506223/original/file-20230125-18584-lf5yg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/506223/original/file-20230125-18584-lf5yg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506223/original/file-20230125-18584-lf5yg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506223/original/file-20230125-18584-lf5yg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506223/original/file-20230125-18584-lf5yg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506223/original/file-20230125-18584-lf5yg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/506223/original/file-20230125-18584-lf5yg5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rehydration solutions are more effective than flat soft drinks and have less sugar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/electrolyte-drink-glass-white-background-1343744714">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So what should you eat and drink during gastroenteritis recovery?</h2>
<p><a href="https://journals.lww.com/em-news/fulltext/2004/01000/brat_diet__axiom_or_unsubstantiated_myth_.21.aspx">Appropriate foods</a> include fruits, vegetables, lean meats, yogurts, as well as complex carbohydrates such as wheat, rice, bread, potatoes, and cereals. </p>
<p>Parents of young children with mild gastroenteritis should keep them hydrated by encouraging fluid intake through water and milk, and discourage fruit juices and carbonated drinks. </p>
<p>For moderate or severe cases the appropriate fluid for oral rehydration is commercially available oral rehydration solution (such a Gastrolyte or Hydralyte). </p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6281220/">systematic review and meta-analysis of 174 studies</a> concluded the use of a probiotic (<em>Saccharomyces boulardii</em>) and zinc supplementation can help during recovery from gastroenteritis, reducing the duration of diarrhoea as well as stool volume.</p>
<p>If symptoms or <a href="https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Dehydration/">dehydration</a> are severe then you should take your child to see a GP or go to the closest hospital emergency department.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198293/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vincent Ho does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There are a lot of tummy bugs about, especially in NSW. But does the old advice of what to eat and drink during recovery still hold true?Vincent Ho, Associate Professor and clinical academic gastroenterologist, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1881052022-08-22T15:45:47Z2022-08-22T15:45:47ZUganda’s efforts to address vitamin A deficiency miss the mark<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478940/original/file-20220812-3855-hwy9zu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Matooke has been the subject for vitamin A biofortification. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Robin Nieuwenkamp/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Vitamin A deficiency is the <a href="https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/vitamin-a-deficiency/">leading</a> cause of preventable childhood blindness. It also increases the risk of death from common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea. There are several ways to fight this public health threat: giving children vitamin A supplements; promoting more diverse diets; fortifying food; and bio-fortifying crops. Nutrition campaigns can go with these efforts. </p>
<p>A number of countries are implementing these measures. But there’s a lack of adequately updated data on vitamin A deficiency and analyses of the impact of such measures. Without this information, countries may be unable to make timely, informed decisions and modify existing strategies.</p>
<p>Uganda is a case in point. Methods for collecting and analysing data on vitamin A deficiency have been inconsistent. So the results vary widely. This makes it difficult to tell whether vitamin A deficiency among Ugandan children is declining or not. Prevalence was estimated at around <a href="https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR128/FR128.pdf#page=20">28% in 2001</a>, <a href="https://www.dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR194/FR194.pdf#page=213">20% in 2006</a>, 33% in <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR264/FR264.pdf#page=178">2011</a> and 9% in <a href="https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/FR333/FR333.pdf#page=258">2016</a>. The World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/data/nutrition/nlis/info/vitamin-a-deficiency">categorises</a> prevalence of 2-9% as mild; 10-19% as moderate and over 20% as severe. </p>
<p>It is hard to compare countries when reliable data are missing. But Uganda has been one of UNICEF’s <a href="https://data.unicef.org/topic/nutrition/vitamin-a-deficiency/">priority countries</a> for its vitamin A supplementation programme since 2000. The country has introduced several measures to address the issue. It distributes vitamin A supplements through healthcare channels; fortifies edible oil, maize flour and wheat flour; and breeds biofortified crops such as sweet potatoes. </p>
<p>My <a href="https://ajfand.net/Volume22/No3/Lee21735.pdf">recent study</a> aimed to identify, as far as possible, what’s working in Uganda and what the obstacles are for these programmes. </p>
<h2>Food fortification</h2>
<p>Food <a href="https://extranet.who.int/nutrition/gina/en/node/14786">fortification</a> one of the approaches has been <a href="http://extwprlegs1.fao.org/docs/pdf/uga138024.pdf">mandated</a> in Uganda. It means increasing the level of micronutrients in processed foods. Edible oil, maize flour and wheat flour are fortified with retinyl palmitate, a form of vitamin A. </p>
<p>This practice is only effective when: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>the nutrient is added to a suitable type of food </p></li>
<li><p>it’s easy for target population groups to consume the food regularly </p></li>
<li><p>costs are reasonable </p></li>
<li><p>food industries are sufficiently developed and regulated. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>A <a href="https://www.gainhealth.org/sites/default/files/publications/documents/fortification-assessement-coverage-toolkit-uganda-2015.pdf">nationwide survey</a> suggests not all vitamin A-fortified oil complied with the national standard. Only about 55% of the oil-consuming population were getting the fortified oil. The fortified maize flour reached less than 7% of households using maize flour. </p>
<p>Differences between the two industries may partly explain the population coverage difference. </p>
<p>The Ugandan oil industry is dominated by a few oil processors that voluntarily fortified their products early on. </p>
<p>Many maize mills across Uganda are small to medium in scale, with daily milling capacity below 20 tonnes. Maize mills with a daily production capacity over 20 tonnes are mandated, by law, to fortify maize flour. But violators of the regulation <a href="https://www.advancingnutrition.org/resources/state-maize-flour-fortification-uganda">rarely face consequences</a>. </p>
<p>The vitamin A-fortified wheat flour appears a curious choice as a food vehicle for supplementation. It’s not a staple food in Uganda; only 11% of the population consume wheat flour. </p>
<p>Overall, Uganda’s food fortification with vitamin A seems constrained by questionable choices of the food vehicle, non-compliant industries, policy loopholes and weak public supervision.</p>
<h2>Biofortification</h2>
<p>Biofortification differs from food fortification. It increases target micronutrients in edible parts of the crop during its growth. This is done by applying fertiliser with target micronutrients, breeding crops conventionally, or developing crops with genetic modification. </p>
<p>Successful biofortification relies on target population groups choosing to plant and consume these crops. Often, it is difficult to change culturally embedded and socially established food crop choices. And people may not accept new crops or crop varieties accepted when they show distinct agronomic or sensory differences. </p>
<p>Orange fleshed sweet potato is probably the best-known crop to have been biofortified with vitamin A. It was developed via conventional breeding. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919220301135?via%3Dihub">Studies</a> <a href="https://acsess.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.2135/cropsci2015.10.0612">suggest</a> eating 50-125g of the biofortified sweet potato daily may provide children with sufficient vitamin A. But the question is whether Ugandan farmers will continue cultivating it and whether consumers will choose it over the conventionally preferred white sweet potato. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://ir.must.ac.ug/bitstream/handle/123456789/745/From%20breeding%20to%20nutrition.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y">research</a> shows mixed <a href="https://nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/nyas.13315">results</a>. People say they are not satisfied with the cost, taste and colour of the biofortified sweet potato. Also, Ugandan farming households grow sweet potatoes mostly for subsistence. It doesn’t always reach urban markets. </p>
<p>Another staple food in Uganda is the East African highland banana, locally called matooke. The biofortified orange-coloured banana was developed via genetic modification. This further complicates its adoption. Uganda has yet to pass the <a href="https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/03/ugandan-president-wants-gmo-bill-passed/">Genetic Engineering Regulatory Bill</a> to release genetically modified products. Public debates surrounding the issue are not settled. The drastic colour change in the culturally and socially important banana may deter people from eating it. And it costs more for farmers to buy the biofortified plantlet. Matooke growing households tend to use their own banana plantlet or get it from their neighbours.</p>
<h2>Call for political attention</h2>
<p>The food-based vitamin A deficiency interventions are considered effective, safe and sustainable. </p>
<p>But the deficiency is complicated by additional issues and requires a comprehensive approach. For example, vitamin A is fat-soluble, so people need to eat sufficient fat to absorb the vitamin. And some infectious diseases make vitamin A deficiency worse, so they too should be tackled.</p>
<p>The Ugandan government has expressed its political commitment to address vitamin A deficiency. But it is still an uphill task when many Ugandan children suffer from overall malnutrition and the healthcare system is weak. Nonetheless, vitamin A deficiency is an important issue that demands the political attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188105/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>HyeJin Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Each food-based vitamin A programme carries different advantages and issues.HyeJin Lee, Assistant Professor, Konkuk UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1885732022-08-12T12:17:16Z2022-08-12T12:17:16ZWhat’s a banana republic? A political scientist explains<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478789/original/file-20220811-14242-18oqco.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=299%2C59%2C3689%2C2697&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. banana growers heavily influenced several Central American governments in the early 20th century.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/undated-b-w-photo-shows-man-harvesting-bananas-underwood-news-photo/530848788?adppopup=true">George Rinhart/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When someone mentions a “<a href="https://www.thoughtco.com/banana-republic-definition-4776041">banana republic</a>,” they’re referring to a small, poor, politically unstable country that is weak because of an excessive reliance on one crop and foreign funding. </p>
<p>The term originated as a way to describe the <a href="https://visualizingtheamericas.utm.utoronto.ca/key-moments/banana-republics/">experiences of many countries in Central America</a>, whose economies and politics were dominated by <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/where-we-got-term-banana-republic-180961813/">U.S.-based banana exporters at the turn of the 20th century</a>.</p>
<p>After the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/09/us/politics/fbi-search-trump.html">FBI’s August 2022 search of the residence of former President Donald Trump</a>, some Republicans <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1556788388828684295">compared the U.S. to a banana republic</a>. And in the wake of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, <a href="https://www.trendsmap.com/historical?q=bananarepublic">a surge of tweets</a> did the same.</p>
<p>Political instability within the U.S. has little to do with fruit. So why is the term being used?</p>
<h2>Subverting democracy to keep the cash flowing</h2>
<p>In the 1880s, the Boston Fruit Company, which later became the United Fruit Company and then Chiquita, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/3/29/11320900/banana-rise">began importing bananas from Jamaica</a> and launched a successful campaign to popularize them in the U.S. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Pixelated portrait of man wearing a hat." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478783/original/file-20220811-20-b2ip4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=853&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Cuyamel Fruit Company hired mercenary Lee Christmas to overthrow the government of Honduras and install one friendlier to foreign business.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Lee_Christmas.jpg">The New York Times via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As demand for bananas grew, large companies made deals with governments across Central America to fund infrastructure projects in exchange for land and policies that would allow them to expand production. </p>
<p>The growers often depended on authoritarian rule to protect land concessions and quell labor unrest that might shrink their profits. Sometimes, they would actively subvert democracy to reassert their influence. The Cuyamel Fruit Company, for example, supported a <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250033314/thefishthatatethewhale">coup in Honduras in 1911</a> that replaced its president with someone more aligned with U.S. interests. </p>
<p>Another well-known example is the 1954 <a href="https://hbr.org/podcast/2019/07/the-controversial-history-of-united-fruit">CIA-orchestrated plot</a> on behalf of the United Fruit Company against Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz. That coup ended the first real period of democracy that Guatemala had known. </p>
<p>The tight relationship between banana exporters and repressive and corrupt leaders ultimately undermined development in the region, exacerbated inequality and left Central American countries weak and misgoverned.</p>
<h2>Hyperbolic rhetoric?</h2>
<p>Responding to the events that unfolded leading up to and during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2022/07/05/gen-russel-honor-coup-attempt-put-us-in-the-banana-republic-club/">current and former government officals</a> commented that they resembled the instability of banana republics that were known for ignoring election results and overturning those results with coups – that’s exactly <a href="https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.616.395&rep=rep1&type=pdf">what happened in Costa Rica in 1917</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1346912246291603465"}"></div></p>
<p>When American politicians and political commentators use the term, they’re often trying to conjure up images of corruption, repression and failures to stop executive overreach. They’re equating government officials with the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/abs/tinpot-and-the-totalitarian-an-economic-theory-of-dictatorship/D461528F9B6C51D862ADE67D88A95DBB">tinpot dictators</a> supported by foreign interests who acted with impunity to govern by force and persecute their opponents. </p>
<p><a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1557190100353785856">A number</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RonDeSantisFL/status/1556803433939755010">of Republican politicians</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1556795946683580416?s=20&t=4iR9vXDJc9lkzI6LNqGtYw">invoked the term</a> in response to the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-fbi-raid-maralago-live-updates-today-1732050">FBI’s raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence</a>.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1556795946683580416"}"></div></p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/08/trumps-mar-lago-raid-doesnt-make-banana-republic/671082/">comparison isn’t apt</a>. It’s true that outgoing leaders are more likely to be investigated and punished by their political opponents in countries with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920905640">strong executives</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1065912920905640">weak judiciaries</a>.</p>
<p>However, holding elected officials accountable for their actions and not allowing anyone to be above the law is actually <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/08/09/global-investigating-former-leaders-trump-sarkozy/">characteristic of a healthy democracy</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188573/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Wilson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US grows hardly any tropical fruit. So why are politicians and political commentators saying the country is at risk of devolving into a banana republic?Matthew Wilson, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of South CarolinaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1627772021-06-17T14:28:09Z2021-06-17T14:28:09ZGender washing: seven kinds of marketing hypocrisy about empowering women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/407045/original/file-20210617-12-zgs0pm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'We're all about you.'</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/digital-art-painting-illustration-business-man-564387154">jesadaphorn</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>At a time of so much focus on how women are held back and treated unfairly, corporations spend multiple millions telling us what they are doing to empower women and girls. When this makes them seem more women-friendly than they really are, it’s known as gender washing. </p>
<p>Gender washing comes in different varieties, and some can be easier to spot than others. To help identify them, it can be useful to look at the decades of research on corporate greenwashing – that better known variant related to climate change. </p>
<p>Inspired by a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1086026615575332?casa_token=CkZLSpkmkJEAAAAA%3A3VRqewkRzQLKk-_unLf4GtR79bhvVs_n2WQvkUOSBmkHL65U4r61f3H0Gk4lnYoXVO6zakPwuqF-">2015 paper</a> that identified seven varieties of greenwashing, I have published <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09692290.2021.1935295">a new paper</a> that classifies seven kinds of questionable corporate claims about empowering women and girls.</p>
<p><strong>1. Selective disclosure</strong></p>
<p>When corporations publicise improvements in, say, female boardroom representation, or the gender pay gap, while omitting contradictory or inconvenient information, it’s known as selective disclosure. </p>
<p>For example, pharma group Novartis frequently features on <a href="http://www.workingmother.com/frequently-asked-questions-about-working-mother-surveys">Working Mother</a> magazine’s annual list of the 100 best companies to work for, via an application highlighting the progress it has made in employment practices towards women. Novartis also proudly cites its support for Working Mother, per the tweet below. Yet as recently as 2010, <a href="https://sanfordheisler.com/case/novartis-pharmaceutical-gender-discrimination-class-action/">the corporation lost</a> the then largest gender pay, promotion and pregnancy discrimination case ever to go to trial.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1285972503391801344"}"></div></p>
<p><strong>2. Empty gender policies</strong></p>
<p>Some companies take initiatives to raise women’s voices internally which, in reality, have little impact. For example, “women’s networks” aim to increase female employees’ confidence and help them build leadership skills through networking events and mentoring schemes. But critics argue that such networks are frequently ignored, and don’t address the underlying causes of discrimination or engage men in efforts to tackle institutional sexism. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13678860500100517?casa_token=M6YF6dfj4GIAAAAA%3AwdsPPMRVIE-QT5d1MYLntVdVKfhZOGc94oxNezrrjgiqznM-73LO8ydW1qe5ORZMTjw_qy0zL7db">One study</a> from 2007 found that the members of one company’s women’s network feared it might actually damage their career prospects because at the time, it was ridiculed by male colleagues as a forum for “male-bashing” and exchanging recipes. </p>
<p><strong>3. Dubious labelling</strong></p>
<p>The promotional placement of the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon by brands with products containing known carcinogens or other arguably risky ingredients is an example of this third kind of gender washing. There are examples involving <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0891243214540991?casa_token=dqmpBlAII48AAAAA%3A5JsfDEKId7AeXO38mGCyQhEjfpOrEHbz0UjdPvV4obekV7Y9SwMkV_ph_HpwraxPS684OhKm-br8">makeup</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/add.13035?casa_token=o0KFdzhtj4cAAAAA%3ALae1SGdaHxKGOFJLRfSbP54SJ1MJbKoIDZUsIATvk4uN_Yev0OXNqtGI4x1W9ZGMxpCqZyDEjdCFVQ">alcoholic drinks</a> and even <a href="https://nca.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0033563032000160981?casa_token=PohNuVZfFXcAAAAA:wF0QhHKQjQnrYsPYDEO1aM8AcafVEytoksKjfONbNaRUAA0_QZHq3m-BP4JYu6wip1ujv8rlmrSd#.YMCIHPnduUk">pesticides</a>.</p>
<p>The pink ribbon can also gender wash the objectification of women. For example, US bar chain Hooters has built its entire brand around waitresses with voluptuous breasts and skimpy clothing. In the company logo, the two Os are replaced by the eyes of an owl, symbolising breasts to be stared at, wide-eyed. Yet, once a year for breast cancer awareness month, the eyes are replaced by pink ribbons as Hooters invites customers to “give a hoot” for breast cancer awareness. Staring is thus rebranded as caring.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"914649676187439104"}"></div></p>
<p><strong>4. Useful partnerships</strong></p>
<p>One way in which a corporation’s image could be gender-washed is to associate with a feminist, women’s or girls’ organisation through funding or some other assistance. The corporation gets to place its logo on the organisation’s marketing materials, potentially distracting from practices elsewhere. </p>
<p>For example, Dove has partnered with the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts on a <a href="https://free-being-me.com/downloads/">teaching resource</a> aimed at helping girls to question dominant beauty standards that damage their self-esteem. This is despite the beauty industry - of which Dove is part - <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/528849">perpetuating those standards</a> to sell products.</p>
<p><strong>5. Voluntary codes</strong></p>
<p>When rights abuses emerge in global supply chains – often most affecting female workers in the global south – there are often demands for tighter regulation of corporate behaviour. One way for corporations <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/20097949?casa_token=gcBe12TotnkAAAAA%3A6rIR07PA5rkuCE5U80VB0p6ZAOZOaIDycef6zjTJTlz52HbjeswM1n64hRwienr7SoLnpBqk0TlNOiihqLVWg0Ph25Omg-n4DLnW8OyYzp3W6huPBNo&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">to respond</a> and potentially deflect such demands is by creating voluntary codes of practice. Their very voluntariness is presented by corporations as evidence of a commitment to empowering workers – particularly women.</p>
<p>Voluntary codes rarely lead to meaningful improvements. For example, when the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh collapsed in 2013, over 1,000 garment factory workers died, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-018-3798-1">some 80%</a> of them women. In the aftermath, the voluntary Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety was established and <a href="https://corporate.walmart.com/our-commitment-to-the-workers-of-bangladesh">promoted by</a> western retailers such as Walmart as improving safety and empowering female factory workers. Yet crucially, there were no <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-018-4080-2">legally binding commitments</a> to prevent another disaster, and the alliance was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/may/31/rana-plaza-bangladesh-collapse-fashion-working-conditions">later criticised</a> by activists and researchers for not improving conditions quickly enough.</p>
<p><strong>6. Changing the narrative</strong></p>
<p>Corporations can position themselves as global leaders on issues where they have previously been found wanting. For example in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Nike <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0021943610389752?casa_token=dVWU3tTcZ1EAAAAA:yvP7HaS5wP6xHUD19QyhYlB7BCBO1GmMNpa02N6DtRZYyQcfSE6wycw8-4JpQZ-LqrG1Ybnnb7R3">was dogged</a> by claims of child labour, sexual and physical abuse among workers at supplier factories, 90% of whom were female. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0021943610389752">Nike’s response</a> included establishing a division of corporate responsibility and setting up the Nike Foundation. One of the foundation’s flagship campaigns was the Girl Effect, launched in 2008 to persuade global elites to invest in girls’ education in the global south. </p>
<p>The campaign quickly went viral, and was soon partnering with the UK’s Department for International Development on programmes to empower girls in the global south. Nike had gone from a brand tarnished by accusations of child labour and exploitation to a trusted partner in international efforts to promote girls’ rights.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WIvmE4_KMNw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p><strong>7. Reassuring branding</strong></p>
<p><a href="https://www.chiquita.com/">Chiquita Banana</a>, the famous logo of Chiquita Brands Corporation, might give shoppers in the global north the impression of buying their bananas from a happy, Latina market woman cheerfully selling her wares. </p>
<p>Yet feminist scholars <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=16kwDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=cynthia+enloe+bananas+beaches+bases&ots=1Oyi5OdiuL&sig=ijIFpEmVipKmlHAE_t56ey2keZs&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=cynthia%20enloe%20bananas%20beaches%20bases&f=false">have documented</a> the long history of Chiquita – formerly the United Fruit Company – exploiting women on banana plantations in Latin America and the Caribbean. This includes past cases of <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1057/9780230289673_3">sexual harassment, discrimination</a>, exposure to harmful chemicals, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/jcorpciti.21.85?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">and violations</a> of childcare and maternity rights. </p>
<p>Does all of this matter? If corporations want to take up the cause of gender equality, is that so bad? It is true that some women and girls do find ways within gender washing campaigns to make gains, but we can’t lose sight of <a href="https://theconversation.com/feminism-washing-are-multinationals-really-empowering-women-120353">the bigger picture</a>. </p>
<p>If a corporation’s employment practices, supply chains or products are harmful to women and girls, and it sells more products thanks to gender washing, then this has increased the harm done. That is why it is so important to identify and call out forms of gender washing whenever we see them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/162777/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosie Walters receives funding from the ESRC, and is a member of the Women's Equality Party. </span></em></p>How companies love to tell us all the great things they’re doing to help women.Rosie Walters, Lecturer in International Relations, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1122562019-04-18T09:44:59Z2019-04-18T09:44:59ZThe quest to save the banana from extinction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269559/original/file-20190416-147522-9uqn1q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cavendish bananas may not be around for much longer.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Steve Hopson/wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Panama disease, an infection that ravages banana plants, has been sweeping across Asia, <a href="https://reachout.aciar.gov.au/stopping-panama-diseasethe-fight-to-save-australias-bananas">Australia</a>, the <a href="https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/10.1094/PDIS-12-14-1356-PDN">Middle East</a> and <a href="https://www.ippc.int/en/countries/mozambique/pestreports/2013/09/new-banana-disease-found-in-mozambique-fusarium-oxysporum-fspcubense-tropical-race-4/">Africa</a>. The impact has been devastating. In the Philippines alone, losses have totalled <a href="https://fusariumwilt.org/index.php/en/about-fusarium-wilt/">US$400m</a>. And the disease threatens not only the livelihoods of everyone in this <a href="https://qz.com/164029/tropical-race-4-global-banana-industry-is-killing-the-worlds-favorite-fruit/">US$44 billion industry</a> but also the 400m people in developing countries who depend on bananas for a substantial proportion of their calorie intake.</p>
<p>However, there may be hope. In an attempt to save the banana and the industry that produces it, scientists are in a race to create a new plant resistant to Panama disease. But perhaps this crisis is a warning that we are growing our food in an unsustainable way and we will need to look to more radical changes for a permanent solution.</p>
<p>To understand how we got here, we need to take a look back at the history of the banana, and in particular the middle of the last century, when a crisis that had been growing for decades was threatening to bring down whole economies and leave thousands destitute. The banana was dying out. </p>
<p>A condition known as Fusarium wilt or Panama disease was wiping out whole plantations in the world’s major banana-producing countries of Latin America. It threatened an industry so important to this part of the world that some states had became known as <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2013/11/21/where-did-banana-republics-get-their-name">banana republics</a> because they were virtually governed by the corporations that produced the crop.</p>
<p>Because bananas of the same type are virtually genetically identical, if one plant becomes infected, all of the other trees in a plantation are <a href="https://qz.com/164029/tropical-race-4-global-banana-industry-is-killing-the-worlds-favorite-fruit/">also susceptible</a>. This meant it was only too easy for Panama disease to sweep through huge expanses of vulnerable host plants. In many areas, all of the trees were killed.</p>
<p>Without a cure or treatment, there was no way back for a plantation once the disease had taken hold. <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/2652224.pdf">For a while</a>, the banana companies carved new plantations from untouched rainforests. But this act of environmental vandalism only postponed the inevitable. Soon these areas, too, became contaminated and cultivation became unsustainable. Estimates vary, but losses due to the Panama <a href="https://fusariumwilt.org/index.php/en/about-fusarium-wilt/">disease epidemic may have reached US$2.3 billion</a>, equivalent to about US$18.2 billion today.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269551/original/file-20190416-147480-ybxkal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269551/original/file-20190416-147480-ybxkal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269551/original/file-20190416-147480-ybxkal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269551/original/file-20190416-147480-ybxkal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269551/original/file-20190416-147480-ybxkal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269551/original/file-20190416-147480-ybxkal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269551/original/file-20190416-147480-ybxkal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gros Michel bananas.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Approximately_30_Gros_Michel_Bananas.jpg">wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Luckily, the banana companies realised that another variety of banana known as the “Cavendish”, unlike the “Gros Michel” type grown in Latin America at the time, was <a href="http://biotreks.org/e201808/">almost completely resistant to Panama disease</a>. From the 1950s, plantations of Gros Michel (or “Big Mike”) were systematically cleared and <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/crux/2017/12/27/banana-fungus-panama-disease/#.XGxO6qL7Tcs">replaced with Cavendish trees</a>.</p>
<p>The Cavendish had rescued the industry, and for five decades it spread further around the world. Today, <a href="https://qz.com/164029/tropical-race-4-global-banana-industry-is-killing-the-worlds-favorite-fruit/">99% of exported bananas</a> and <a href="http://www.fao.org/3/y5102e/y5102e04.htm">nearly half of total production worldwide</a> is of the Cavendish variety. But this strength has now become the banana industry’s greatest vulnerability. Panama disease has returned, and this time the Cavendish is no longer resistant.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269540/original/file-20190416-147502-1epb2ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269540/original/file-20190416-147502-1epb2ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269540/original/file-20190416-147502-1epb2ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269540/original/file-20190416-147502-1epb2ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269540/original/file-20190416-147502-1epb2ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269540/original/file-20190416-147502-1epb2ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269540/original/file-20190416-147502-1epb2ax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panama disease.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wikipedia</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As the new strain sweeps across the world, it can only be a matter of time before this scourge returns to the huge plantations of the Caribbean and Central America. However, lessons about how to solve this latest crisis may lie in the last outbreak of Panama disease, where an answer came via an unlikely source. Not the jungles of South-East Asia, where bananas are native, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4652896/pdf/ppat.1005197.pdf">but via Chatsworth House in Derbyshire</a>, former home of the politician and keen horticulturist William Cavendish, the Sixth Duke of Devonshire.</p>
<h2>The duke and the gardener</h2>
<p>In 1826, Cavendish employed a young and enthusiastic farmer’s son as his head gardener. <a href="https://www.chatsworth.org/art-archives/devonshire-collection/archives/letters-from-joseph-paxton/">This was Joseph Paxton</a>, who went on use the expertise he developed constructing experimental greenhouses at Chatsworth in designing the famed Crystal Palace in London.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269543/original/file-20190416-147505-khek1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269543/original/file-20190416-147505-khek1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269543/original/file-20190416-147505-khek1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269543/original/file-20190416-147505-khek1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269543/original/file-20190416-147505-khek1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269543/original/file-20190416-147505-khek1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269543/original/file-20190416-147505-khek1c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=761&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Joseph Paxton.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Portrait Gallery/wikipedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Among the exotic specimens Paxton gathered for the duke was a short banana plant he purchased for £10 from the Dorking collection of the late brewer Robert Barclay, who in turn had received it from the botanical garden in <a href="http://www.mauritiusmag.com/?p=243">Pamplemousses on Mauritius</a>. Paxton propagated and tended the plant for three years until it eventually produced fruit for Lord Cavendish and his guests to enjoy.</p>
<p>Paxton’s success with the plant, which he named <em>Musa Cavendishii</em> <a href="http://researchingfoodhistory.blogspot.com/2018/08/cavendish-bananas-duke-of-devonshire.html">after his patron</a>, won him the Silver Medal at the 1835 Royal Horticultural Society show. Following this fame, the nurserymen who had sold off Barclay’s collection tried to claim that the invoice for the plant should have been <a href="https://tenerifeweekly.com/2022/10/14/the-story-of-the-cavendish-banana/">for £100</a> instead of £10. Paxton did not pay the difference.</p>
<p>Then began the spread of the Cavendish around the world. Bananas have a long history of migration. <a href="https://theconversation.com/prehistoric-people-started-to-spread-domesticated-bananas-across-the-world-6-000-years-ago-99547">Archaeological evidence</a> suggests they were first cultivated in South-East Asia and New Guinea at least 6,800 years ago, and had spread to Sri Lanka by 6,000 years ago and Uganda by 5,250 years ago. After Europeans began crossing the Atlantic at the end of the 15th century, the banana <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=SqVqBgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT5&dq=history+banana+cultivation+america&ots=_Sxc1_ka6o&sig=8fcXId5soncT_1_AbSzg4lho4jA#v=onepage&q=history%2520banana%2520cultivation%2520america&f=false">quickly followed</a>, spreading across the Caribbean and tropical parts of the Americas. </p>
<p>But the 18th century Age of Enlightenment started an important new phase of propagation of varieties of banana collected on the scientific voyages <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/30071281?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_con">of the era</a> by amateur and professional botanists and gardeners. Many initially reached new territories because they were shared between enthusiasts who planted them in botanical or private gardens, just as Paxton did.</p>
<p>He and and his successors continued the trend, giving many specimens from Chatsworth to collectors and philanthropists and helping distribute the Cavendish banana around the world. They made their way to the Canary Islands, where they later came to be grown for export, probably via the gardens of a Scottish stately home and a wine merchant <a href="http://www.tenerifenews.com/2019/01/the-birth-and-distribution-of-the-cavendish-banana/">who immigrated to Tenerife</a>. Specimens also reached Jamaica, where they were planted in Bath Gardens in <a href="https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/pdf/10.1094/PDIS.1998.82.9.964">St Thomas in 1884</a>.</p>
<p>John Williams, a missionary to the Pacific Islands <a href="https://bananaroots.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/back-to-the-roots-part-ii-the-roots-of-the-cavendish-banana-in-england/">was given Cavendish plants</a> to provide food in the areas of his ministry. These specimens were initially established in Samoa in 1838, and from there the plant spread to Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti, Hawaii and Australia, as well as the original home of the banana, New Guinea. Williams did not see this himself <a href="http://discerninghistory.com/2017/05/john-williams-the-martyr-missionary-of-polynesia/">as he was eaten</a> in the New Hebrides in 1839 by islanders who were presumably unenthusiastic about his message. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269544/original/file-20190416-147518-ny8x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269544/original/file-20190416-147518-ny8x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269544/original/file-20190416-147518-ny8x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269544/original/file-20190416-147518-ny8x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269544/original/file-20190416-147518-ny8x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269544/original/file-20190416-147518-ny8x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269544/original/file-20190416-147518-ny8x8n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Massacre of John Williams.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">National Library of New Zealand</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="https://www.revolvy.com/page/Gros-Michel-banana">Gros Michel variety</a> was taken from Myanmar to the St Pierre botanical garden in Martinique in the early 19th century by the French cartographer and privateer Nicolas Baudin. From there it was taken to Jamaica in 1835 by the botanist Jean François Pouyat. And the plants used to establish the banana export industry in the early 20th century probably came from these specimens.</p>
<h2>Fortunate malfunctions</h2>
<p>What’s surprising about the distribution of these banana plants to every part of the world hot enough for them to grow is that they’re sterile. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensavage/2018/01/04/yes-we-have-no-bananas/#7df8915d1e83">Wild bananas are filled with large hard seeds</a>, which makes them hard to eat. Modern bananas can’t even grow seeds. But far from hindering their spread, this genetic quirk is what has made bananas such a desirable crop. And what has left them so vulnerable.</p>
<p>Modern banana and plantain plants are what is <a href="https://www.le.ac.uk/bl/phh4/openpubs/bananacytogenetics.htm">known as “triploid”</a>, meaning they have three copies of each of the chromosomes that carry their genes. As such, they cannot reproduce sexually because their chromosomes cannot be equally divided to create a sex cell, as happens in <a href="https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/meiosis-genetic-recombination-and-sexual-reproduction-210">“diploid” organisms</a> that have two copies of each chromosome (such as humans, most animals and many plants).</p>
<p>Triploids like this can arise when there is a malfunction in the process of forming sex cells in diploid organisms. Occasionally cells are produced that have two copies of each chromosome instead of one. When these fuse with a normal sex cell, the new plant has two chromosomes from one parent and <a href="http://www.saps.org.uk/saps-associates/browse-q-and-a/322-from-which-part-of-the-flower-do-seedless-fruits-develop">one from the other</a>, preventing it from making viable sex cells of its own. In the banana’s case, the plant still produces fruit but can’t make seeds.</p>
<p>On the surface this may appear to be a problem, but plants are not completely dependent on sexual reproduction. As any gardener knows, new plants can be started <a href="https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/projects/rooting-plant-cuttings.htm">from cuttings</a>, and new banana trees are usually produced from an existing plant by replanting root stalks, known as rhizomes, or shoots called suckers that <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/downloadpdf/j/opag.2018.3.issue-1/opag-2018-0014/opag-2018-0014.pdf">grow out of them</a>.</p>
<p>The prehistoric peoples who domesticated bananas and plantains cannot have known anything about chromosome numbers. But almost all of the many varieties that they grew are triploid. So they must have learned to look out for these fortunate accidents and <a href="https://www.cirad.fr/en/our-research/research-results/2009/understanding-banana-domestication-a-crucial-step-towards-improvement">cultivate them</a>, preferring them to their wild and seedy relations.</p>
<p>This has important consequences, both good and bad. Plants from cuttings are clones of one another and, give or take the odd mutation, are genetically identical. This <a href="https://www.sciencelearn.org.nz/resources/1662-vegetative-plant-propagation">removes variety and chance</a> from the equation. Obviously we only plant copies of trees that are vigorous and produce fruit that we like, and all of the new trees will be pretty much the same as the one we took cuttings from.</p>
<p>This is great for production on an industrial scale because the fruit are consistent and if you harvest and treat them in the same way, they will all be ripe and ready to eat at <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevensavage/2018/01/04/yes-we-have-no-bananas/#6b687d261e83">the same time</a>. Unfortunately it is also great for any disease that infects them because if it gets a foothold in one tree, those nearby will <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4652896/pdf/ppat.1005197.pdf">also be vulnerable</a>, as will their neighbours, and it can spread through the whole plantation. Which is exactly what is happening now.</p>
<h2>Panama returns</h2>
<p>The earliest known discovery of Panama disease was actually <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1071/APP9950038">in Australia</a> in 1874. First the leaves of the banana trees stopped growing. Then they started to curl and wilt. Eventually the trees dried out completely and died. In 1890, the disease was found in its namesake country and over the next 30 years spread to most Caribbean and Central American countries.</p>
<p>It took a while to identify the cause, but in 1910, it was <a href="https://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Pages/PanamaDiseasePart1.aspx">found to be</a> the wilt fungus <em>Fusarium oxysporum cubense</em> or “Foc” for short. The plants died because the channels that carry water and minerals from the roots to the leaves became blocked. It was initially thought that these conduits became clogged by the fungus but we now know that the <a href="http://archive.bio.ed.ac.uk/jdeacon/microbes/panama.htm">plant itself plugs them</a>, presumably in a vain attempt to stop the fungus spreading.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269548/original/file-20190416-147508-164kddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269548/original/file-20190416-147508-164kddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269548/original/file-20190416-147508-164kddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269548/original/file-20190416-147508-164kddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269548/original/file-20190416-147508-164kddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269548/original/file-20190416-147508-164kddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269548/original/file-20190416-147508-164kddr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stem of banana tree with panama disease.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.padil.gov.au/pests-and-diseases/pest/main/136609/3695">wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also now know that Foc is spread by <a href="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/banana/documents/Docs_Resources_2015/TR4/Panama-disease-FS.pdf">contaminated soil</a>. A minute amount of tainted soil can carry the disease to a new plantation where <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01468/full">it remains infectious for decades</a>, immune to any chemical treatments. This was the situation facing the banana industry in the 1950s, when Gros Michel plantations around the world were being overwhelmed.</p>
<p>Cavendish bananas require more protection than Gros Michel, and were thought of as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/18/opinion/18koeppel.html">small and flavourless</a> in comparison. But given the Cavendish’s apparent immunity to Foc, and otherwise facing total collapse, the industry had no alternative but to switch. </p>
<p>For a while, it looked as if the banana had been saved. Then, in the late 1960s, another outbreak of Panama disease was discovered in Taiwan, this time in a plantation of Cavendish plants. By the early 2000s, only <a href="http://www.promusa.org/Fusarium+wilt#footnote5">6,000 hectares</a> of banana plantations out of a former 50,000 hectares in Taiwan remained.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269552/original/file-20190416-147511-1chrfa7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269552/original/file-20190416-147511-1chrfa7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269552/original/file-20190416-147511-1chrfa7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269552/original/file-20190416-147511-1chrfa7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269552/original/file-20190416-147511-1chrfa7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269552/original/file-20190416-147511-1chrfa7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269552/original/file-20190416-147511-1chrfa7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=706&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fusarium oxysporum.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Keith Weller, USDA-ARS/wikipedia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This puzzling development was down to the fact that, just as there are different varieties of bananas, there are different types of Foc. The Gros Michel trees were infected by what is known as <a href="https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/agri/plant-pathology/ac4tr4/background/brief-history-of-banana-fusarium-wilt">“Race 1”</a>. The strain of fungus that appeared in Taiwain is known as <a href="http://www.promusa.org/Tropical+race+4+-+TR4">“Tropical Race 4” or TR4</a>. It can infect not just Gros Michel, but also Cavendish bananas and as many as <a href="http://www.promusa.org/Tropical+race+4+-+TR4#Host_range">80% of the varieties</a> in cultivation. (Although this assumes that plantains are also susceptible and so far there is little conclusive evidence either way.) So now the industry is once again facing disaster, what can be done to save it this time?</p>
<h2>A genetic solution?</h2>
<p>The simplest response <a href="https://www.cirad.fr/en/news/all-news-items/press-releases/2014/panama-disease">is quarantine</a>. Panama disease was so devastating in the 20th century because effective measures to control its spread came too late. It is also possible that the first TR4 outbreak in Taiwan could have been nipped in the bud if the magnitude of the problem had been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4652896/pdf/ppat.1005197.pdf">recognised earlier</a>. But it seems that the innate resistance of Cavendish plants to Race 1 encouraged complacency until the epidemic was out of control.</p>
<p>Can we stop the spread by preventing infected plant material and soil reaching new areas? Unfortunately, it’s <a href="https://www.sun.ac.za/english/faculty/agri/plant-pathology/ac4tr4/background/management-of-banana-fusarium-wilt">not necessarily that easy</a>. Foc can lurk in minute patches of mud on a wheel or shoe. People, machinery and everything else coming into a plantation have to be <a href="https://publications.qld.gov.au/dataset/panama-disease-tropical-race-4-grower-kit">stringently controlled</a>. Imagine operating what is essentially a farm with all non-essential people and vehicles excluded and with changing and decontamination zones for those you have to let in. </p>
<p>It worked for a while in Australia, which has very strict rules to prevent foreign soil entering the country, but even there the defences were <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/10/we-have-no-bananas">breached in 2015</a>. There are always slip ups, and people who ignore the rules. In many areas there are unprotected banana plants growing wild or in villages and if these become infected they can act as bridges for the disease to cross from one plantation to the next. Quarantine may slow the march of TR4, but in the long term we really need a banana that is resistant to the fungus.</p>
<p>Here, the triploid nature of the banana presents an unwanted complication. Historically, new crop varieties were bred by crossing plants with desired characteristics until they were combined in a single new variety. For example, cross breeding a plant that produces a good yield for farmers with another that was disease resistant. But crossing domesticated bananas doesn’t produce any seed and so this is not usually an option.</p>
<p>However, genetic modification offers other ways to move properties between plants (and other organisms). In principle this could offer a solution and there are already some promising results. Researchers in Australia have found that adding two different genes to the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01670-6">genetic code of Cavendish bananas</a> protects the plants from TR4. The first was taken from a wild banana resistant to TR4 and is one of a large family of genes that recognise invading diseases so that the plants can protect themselves.</p>
<p>The second comes from a more unlikely source: <a href="http://www.musalit.org/seeMore.php?id=13105">nematode worms</a>. There are occasions when <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2117903/">organisms need some cells to sacrifice themselves</a>. A dramatic example is when a tree sheds its leaves for winter but it happens in our own development too. In the womb, your fingers are formed from flipper like appendages <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10048/">when the cells that separate them die off</a>. The nematode gene is one that blocks this process.</p>
<p>This seems a strange way to protect the plant but it might be effective against TR4 in bananas because, as we saw earlier, the invading fungus may actually <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1003542">hijack this process</a>, using chemical messages to programme the banana cells to self destruct. The nematode gene may work by <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/47028/9/Paul_et_al-2011-Plant_Biotechnology_Journal-1.pdf">blocking these signals</a>.</p>
<p>Using these methods, we could carry on eating the bananas that we are used to or even see if the same would work to help bring back the tastier Gros Michel. But these resistant Cavendish bananas are now GM crops. People in many countries have <a href="https://www.sentienceinstitute.org/gm-foods">become used to eating GM food</a>, but not so in Europe, which has the most stringent GM regulations in the world. Perhaps European regulators could be persuaded to make an exception if it was a case of GM bananas or none at all. But we might need to look for another solution.</p>
<h2>Chromosome maths</h2>
<p>One alternative could be to make new triploid seedless plants from scratch. Picking out the occasional tree that produced seedless fruit must have been a slow process when bananas were first domesticated. But now that we understand the process, we can make our own triploid plants <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%252Fs00425-015-2450-x">much more easily</a>. </p>
<p>This is usually done using plants with four copies of each type of chromosome called tetraploids. These often grow faster and produce sturdier plants that can withstand stress better than their diploid relations (many of our crops have expanded chromosome numbers). But they are especially useful in plant breeding because they <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00425-015-2450-x">produce sex cells</a> with two copies of each chromosome. This allows the creation of otherwise impossible infertile hybrids.</p>
<p>When you cross a tetraploid (with two copies of every chromosome in each sex cell) with a normal diploid plant (with only one copy of each chromosome per sex cell) you get a triploid. A triploid plant can’t produce its own sex cells. So if it is a banana, its fruit will be seedless.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269558/original/file-20190416-147522-1muee70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/269558/original/file-20190416-147522-1muee70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269558/original/file-20190416-147522-1muee70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269558/original/file-20190416-147522-1muee70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269558/original/file-20190416-147522-1muee70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269558/original/file-20190416-147522-1muee70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/269558/original/file-20190416-147522-1muee70.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banana plantations in Tenerife.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">oatsy40/Flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The same result can be achieved by taking an infertile cross between species, the plant equivalent of a mule, and exposing it to chemicals that cause it to double its chromosomes and become tetraploid. A hardy hybrid of wheat and rye called triticale was <a href="https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/triticale.html">made in this way</a>. </p>
<p>Some breeding programmes have made tetraploid plants by crossing <a href="http://www.promusa.org/blogpost363-Who-s-breeding-bananas">triploid and diploid varieties</a>, but this depends on infrequent genetic events and so it takes time and effort. A quicker way is to force chromosomes to double using a <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/77131655.pdf">chemical called colchicine</a>.</p>
<p>From these approaches we now have a number of tetraploid synthetic banana hybrids and some have proved to be <a href="http://www.promusa.org/FHIA-01#footnote2">resistant to TR4</a>. These plants are not very useful commercially because they are fertile so produce seed-filled bananas. But they can be crossed with one another to bring together useful traits, and then with ordinary diploid trees to make a new generation of triploid seedless bananas. This approach has also created some new hybrids with <a href="https://grist.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pg_from_tb323_panama.pdf">resistance to TR4</a>, but none so far with the flavour and consistency that we want in a replacement for Cavendish.</p>
<p>A slightly more radical approach is to try to evolve plants resistant to TR4. Cavendish plants are clones but their genetic code can become slightly different over time because of mutations and changes in the way their DNA is read. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bananalink.org.uk/tr4-resistant-banana-shows-promise-philippines">One group in Taiwan</a> has been exposing Cavendish banana seedlings to soil contaminated with TR4 and looking for those that survive a little bit better than the others. They pick these out and use them for their next trial. Only two or three plants of every 10,000 show promise but after many iterations they now have a Cavendish line with some ability <a href="http://www.promusa.org/GCTCV-119">to withstand TR4</a>.</p>
<p>However, none of these potential solutions deal with the fact that farming huge plantations of cloned trees is an <a href="https://qz.com/164029/tropical-race-4-global-banana-industry-is-killing-the-worlds-favorite-fruit/">intrinsically unstable</a> way of doing things. They may offer economies of scale, keeping prices down and offering consistent tasty fruit. But, even with a solution to TR4, how long will it be <a href="https://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Documents/2005/PanamaDisease2.pdf">before the next disease</a> takes hold?</p>
<p>Perhaps we should be using more varieties of bananas and <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2018.01468/full">growing them alongside</a> other crops or in alternation with them. That way, an infection won’t find such huge swathes of susceptible hosts close together, as can happen now.</p>
<p>There is also evidence that some other crops can protect bananas against TR4. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491907/">One study</a> found that bananas planted in TR4-contaminated soils largely escaped infection after being grown in the same fields as Chinese leeks for three years. This seems to be because Chinese leeks release chemicals that kill fungi. <a href="https://www.actahort.org/books/828/828_19.htm">Cassava also clears fields of TR4</a>, perhaps because of antifungal substances <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19004461">produced by the cassava itself</a> and by <a href="https://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ajft.2007.446.451">microorganisms associated with its roots</a>.</p>
<p>The Cavendish banana may have had a remarkable journey from colonial curiosity to global staple. But its success has helped create a food system with a fatal flaw (though this problem of monoculture farming is <a href="https://www.nap.edu/read/2116/chapter/5">hardly unique to bananas</a>). Perhaps we ultimately need to be prepared to accept less standardised and slightly more expensive food in order to accommodate less intense and more diverse agriculture. You might never be quite sure what to expect when you peeled a banana, but the result could be a more robust and sustainable food system without a major crisis every few decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/112256/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stuart Thompson has received funding from MAFF and the Nuffield Foundation and has consulted to the University of Copenhagen.</span></em></p>Scientists are in a race to genetically engineer a new plant resistant to a devastating disease that is threatening to wipe out the banana.Stuart Thompson, Senior Lecturer in Plant Biochemistry, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1005202018-08-09T00:53:19Z2018-08-09T00:53:19ZPaying an extra $150 million a year to protect growers? That’s bananas!<p>No international traveller can miss the impact of Australia’s quarantine restrictions. Loud posters at every international airport instruct you to dump your fresh produce or face large fines. Into the bin then with the Californian cherries and Kiwi kiwis! </p>
<p>These restrictions impose a cost not just on international travellers but on Australian consumers. Anyone who’d like to consume overseas fruit is not quite as well off as they would be if they didn’t have to comply with Australia’s quarantine restrictions. The (negative) difference between how well off they are now and how well off they’d be without the restrictions is what economists call a consumer welfare cost.</p>
<p>Other hidden costs to Australia may result when domestic farmers face an environment in which banana imports are banned and so market competition is starkly reduced.</p>
<p>How high are these costs? My co-authors and I answer this question in a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1475-4932.12414">paper just published</a> in the Economic Record. We estimate the banana import ban has a total annual welfare cost of about $150 million. That’s more than $250,000 per grower per year.</p>
<h2>Why quarantine?</h2>
<p>Australian quarantine restrictions on imports are typically defended on the grounds that they keep Australia safe, in two primary ways. </p>
<p>First, we are told that preventing imports prevents the entry of disease into Australia. Yet many countries, including <a href="http://www.worldstopexports.com/bananas-exports-country/">our region’s most prolific banana exporter, the Philippines</a>, evidently manage disease and other productivity pests competently enough to keep producing bananas year after year. Australia has also <a href="https://abgc.org.au/projects-resources/banana-freckle-response/">competently managed disease outbreaks</a> on our soil.</p>
<p>Second, we are told that supporting our farming industries through this sort of protection helps ensure Australia can self-produce enough food for Australians (sometimes termed “food security”).</p>
<h2>Why focus on bananas?</h2>
<p>Almost all of Australia’s bananas are produced <a href="https://abgc.org.au/our-industry/key-facts/">in one region of far north Queensland</a> by about 600 growers. This region is prone to regular cyclones that destroy much of Australia’s banana crop when they hit.</p>
<p>Such destruction is what economists call a supply shock. Because bananas take about 10 months to mature, growers cannot compensate by pulling extra bananas out of a rainy-day drawer. </p>
<p>True supply shocks classically affect the supply of product enough to move prices. And anyone in Australia just after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Larry#Banana_Shortage">Cyclone Larry</a> or <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/national/prices-of-bananas-fall-after-crops-recover-from-cyclone-yasi/news-story/a426ad5906a2d0e86f72578c0629f2d8">Cyclone Yasi</a> will have seen the prices of suddenly scarce bananas skyrocket to north of $15 per kilo.</p>
<p>You might decide in such a situation to buy another fruit, or to cop the high price and buy bananas anyway. Either way, you’d have been better off if you could have bought Filipino bananas instead at a fraction of the price.</p>
<p>The geographical concentration of banana production, the vulnerability to cyclones and the lags in the production cycle are the perfect combination to enable an economic study of the welfare costs to Australia of banana import restrictions.</p>
<h2>How do we estimate import ban costs?</h2>
<p>We construct a mathematical model of banana production and collect data on domestic and Filipino banana prices, production and exchange rates from 2002 to 2015. We use these data to describe what happened to banana prices and quantities sold over this period, noting that Cyclone Larry hit in March 2006 and Cyclone Yasi hit in February 2011. </p>
<p>Using the model and the data, we estimate the demand elasticity of domestic banana consumption. How much Australian consumers reduce their banana purchases when the price rises is a core factor determining how much worse off they are when they cannot escape price hikes by buying foreign bananas.</p>
<p>We then estimate two welfare costs:</p>
<ol>
<li>the cost arising because of consumers facing higher banana prices than they would if able to buy imported bananas</li>
<li>the cost arising because Australia produces bananas rather than directing the resources used in banana farming to other activities. </li>
</ol>
<p>The second cost is more subtle than the first, but our analysis indicates it accounts for about 80% of the total welfare cost of $150 million a year. Following the classic economic logic of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/opportunitycost.asp">opportunity cost</a>, this welfare loss on the producer side signals to us what Australia is giving up when we produce bananas instead of doing something else.</p>
<p>This “invisible” cost happens because Australia does not have a <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/comparativeadvantage.asp">comparative advantage</a> in producing bananas in our region (examining <a href="https://www.horticulturetrade.com.au/images/pdfs/agms/2017-08-24-AHEA-Statistics-for-2016-17.pdf">our fruit exports</a> shows our comparative advantage in fruit production centres on stuff that doesn’t need a tropical climate). Australian domestic banana prices are higher than world market prices in almost all the years we studied. </p>
<p>This means the concern about banana disease mentioned above is moot. If we made the efficient choice and stopped producing bananas, then banana freckle and similar problems would be left for the Filipinos (and other banana producers) to sort out, not us. </p>
<h2>What we find</h2>
<p>Based on our results, we conclude that banana import restrictions serve mainly as an institutional support for <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/rentseeking.asp">rent-seeking</a>, which has been <a href="http://gameofmates.com">documented more widely</a> as endemic in Australia. In effect, the result is a flow of large subsidies to fewer than 1,000 farmers who, if we wished to best allocate our country’s scarce resources, should be doing something other than producing bananas. These subsidies are paid for in the form of welfare forgone by the rest of Australia’s millions of people.</p>
<p>Does the risk of not being able to grow our own bananas pose enough real danger to Australia that we should spend $150 million every year to fend it off? Or is there a subtler but larger danger lurking in our quarantine laws – the invisible siphoning of Australia’s wealth to a tiny group of protected mates, through policies sold to us wrapped in our national flag?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100520/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gigi Foster receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Analysis suggests import restrictions on bananas in Australia are a classic rent‐seeking policy, leaving Australians to subsidise each grower by more than $250,000 a year.Gigi Foster, Associate Professor, School of Economics, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/947422018-04-10T14:14:20Z2018-04-10T14:14:20ZThe day bananas made their British debut<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214046/original/file-20180410-554-3ygp4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thomas Johnson's illustration of his banana plant from The Herball Or Generall Historie of Plantes.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.islarobertson.com/blog/on-this-day-the-banana.html">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Carmen Miranda sashayed her way into the hearts of Britain’s war-weary population in films such as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/richard-brody/the-gangs-all-here">The Gang’s All Here</a> and <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/that_night_in_rio/">That Night in Rio</a>, her combination of tame eroticism and tropical fruit proved irresistible. Imagine having so much fruit you could wear it as a hat. To audiences suffering the strictures of rationing, Miranda’s tropical headgear shouted exoticism and abundance – with a touch of phallic sensuality thrown in.</p>
<p>In 1940s and 1950s Britain, bananas represented luxury, sunshine and sexiness. But entranced cinema-goers might have been surprised to learn that the bananas in Miranda’s tutti-frutti hat were in all probability descended from a strain developed in a hothouse at a stately home in Derbyshire, in England’s picturesque – but decidedly non-tropical – Midlands.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TLsTUN1wVrc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>England got its first glimpse of the banana when herbalist, botanist and merchant Thomas Johnson displayed a bunch in his shop in Holborn, in the City of London, on April 10, 1633. He included the woodcut you see at the top of this article in his “very much enlarged” edition of John Gerard’s popular botanical encyclopedia, <a href="https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/1057467/the-herball-or-generall-historie-of-plantes">The herball or generall historie of plantes</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214050/original/file-20180410-587-1n5ye5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214050/original/file-20180410-587-1n5ye5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214050/original/file-20180410-587-1n5ye5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214050/original/file-20180410-587-1n5ye5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214050/original/file-20180410-587-1n5ye5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214050/original/file-20180410-587-1n5ye5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1228&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214050/original/file-20180410-587-1n5ye5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1228&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214050/original/file-20180410-587-1n5ye5p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1228&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Page 1516 of the Johnson edition of The herball or generall historie of plantes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Page_1516_The_herball_or,_generall_historie_of_plantes_Wellcome_L0064346.jpg">Wellcome Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Johnson’s single stem of bananas came from the recently colonised island of Bermuda. We don’t know what variety it was – but these days the chances are that any banana you will find in a British supermarket will be descended <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35131751">from the Cavendish banana</a>. This strain was developed in the 19th century by the head gardener at Chatsworth House, John Paxton. His invention is called the Cavendish, rather than the Paxton, after the family name of the owners of the Chatsworth estate, the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.</p>
<p>Paxton spent several years developing his banana. In 1835 his plant finally bore fruit, which won him a prize from the Royal Horticultural Society. </p>
<p>The Cavendish slowly gained popularity as a cultigen, but its current dominance is the result of a calamity. The genetic uniformity of commercial banana plantations is a hostage to ill-fortune. During the 1950s a virulent fungal pathogen wiped out the previously ubiquitous Gros Michel variety. The Cavendish stepped into the space left by the attack of Panama Disease. There is no reason to assume the fate suffered by the Gros Michel will not befall the Cavendish. What then will adorn our bowls of cereal and add volume to our smoothies?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/disease-may-wipe-out-worlds-bananas-but-heres-how-we-might-just-save-them-54082">Disease may wipe out world's bananas – but here's how we might just save them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Taste of the tropics</h2>
<p>Europeans have long associated bananas with the exotic pleasures of distant, island paradises. When the exhausted Ilarione da Bergamo arrived in the Caribbean in 1761 after a long sea voyage, the sight of the local fruit convinced the Italian friar that the travails of his protracted journey had been worthwhile. “Thus I began enjoying the delights of America,” <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hisn.12036_18">he noted in his diary</a>. Travellers marvelled at the exuberance of new-world nature, which – unlike her more parsimonious European sister – offered ripe, sweet fruit all year round. </p>
<p>The opportunity to gorge on sugary fruits became part of the European image of the tropics. The historian David Arnold <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MRT6LMJ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">pointed out</a> that, in English: “One of the earliest and most enduring uses of the adjective ‘tropical’ was to describe fruit.” </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214045/original/file-20180410-543-karuho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214045/original/file-20180410-543-karuho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214045/original/file-20180410-543-karuho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214045/original/file-20180410-543-karuho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=795&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214045/original/file-20180410-543-karuho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214045/original/file-20180410-543-karuho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214045/original/file-20180410-543-karuho.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=999&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">De negro e india, china cambuja, by Miguel Cabrera (1695–1768).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:De_negro_e_india,_china_cambuja.jpg">Museum of the Americas</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And of course these juicy, succulent treasures quickly became associated, not only with the tropics, but also with the sexual allure travellers projected onto women in the torrid zone. Women and tropical fruits merged into one delightful commodity in the overheated imagination of the US journalist, Carleton Beals, as he travelled through Costa Rica in the 1930s. “And the women,” he <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/216163">wrote breathlessly in Banana Gold</a>, “their firm ample flesh seems ready to burst through the satin skin—like ripe fruit!”. Carmen Miranda’s provocative wink and her banana hat played masterfully on this centuries-old association.</p>
<h2>Banana republics</h2>
<p>Bananas <a href="https://www.telegraphindia.com/1110717/jsp/nation/story_14249961.jsp">originated in South-East Asia</a> and were brought to the New World by European settlers – who, by the 19th century, were growing them on vast plantations in the Caribbean. Labour conditions on banana plantations were often atrocious. When underpaid workers at a plantation on Colombia’s Caribbean coast struck for better working conditions in 1928, <a href="https://www.thesociologicalcinema.com/videos/a-postcolonial-perspective-on-the-banana-massacre">they were gunned down</a> by Colombian troops probably called in at the behest of the United Fruit Company. </p>
<p>The novelist Gabriel García Márquez immortalised this tragedy in a memorable scene in his <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/12/gabriel-garcia-marquez-one-hundred-years-of-solitude-history">One Hundred Years of Solitude</a>. “Look at the mess we’ve got ourselves into,” one of his characters remarks, “just because we invited a gringo to eat some bananas”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214102/original/file-20180410-570-1ru547o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/214102/original/file-20180410-570-1ru547o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214102/original/file-20180410-570-1ru547o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214102/original/file-20180410-570-1ru547o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=350&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214102/original/file-20180410-570-1ru547o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214102/original/file-20180410-570-1ru547o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/214102/original/file-20180410-570-1ru547o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Banana plantation in Nicaragua, 1894.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PSM_V45_D184_Banana_plantation.jpg">Popular Science Monthly</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Far worse messes were to occur in Guatemala in 1954, when the United Fruit Company cooperated closely with the Guatemalan military and the US State Department <a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/reviews/capsule-review/1982-06-01/bitter-fruit-untold-story-american-coup-guatemala">to overthrow</a> the democratically-elected government of Jacobo Arbenz, who had made the mistake of nationalising some of the unused lands owned by the fruit company. The coup ushered in decades of military rule, during which the government, locked in a struggle with the guerrilla movement that inevitably arose in response, engaged in what many scholars <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/05/19/what-guilt-does-the-us-bear-in-guatemala/guatemala-suffered-for-us-foreign-policy">have described as genocide</a> against the Maya population. </p>
<p>Today, bananas are so commonplace – thanks, of course, to industrial-scale production and working conditions that continue to attract critique – that they scarcely conjure up the delight they once inspired in the travel-fatigued Ilarione da Bergamo and weary postwar cinema goers. Since April 10 2018 marks the 385th anniversary of the day in 1633 when bananas were displayed for the first time to Londoners, it’s worth pondering the complex history behind the everyday banana.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94742/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Earle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The story of Britain’s favourite tropical fruit (and how it came to dominate the world).Rebecca Earle, Professor of HIstory, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/823042017-09-01T00:23:42Z2017-09-01T00:23:42ZWorth reading: Bananas, dwarves, salt and love<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184277/original/file-20170831-22427-1o1ookj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=333%2C2%2C1480%2C1077&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A banana on the salt lake plain at Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, hints at themes of genetics, food and human journeys in three books recommended by fly scientist Thomas Merritt.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/banana-on-salt-lake-background-salar-641084434?src=jug1_8IDd40Vz6pzAVQw1A-1-11">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Editor’s note: The Conversation Canada asked our academic authors to share some recommended reading. In this instalment, Thomas Merritt, a fly scientist who wrote about <a href="https://theconversation.com/sex-matters-male-bias-in-the-lab-is-bad-science-80715">male bias in science laboratories</a> (and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-kill-fruit-flies-according-to-a-scientist-81740">how to kill fruit flies</a>) highlights three books on his list of top reads.</em> </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184291/original/file-20170901-32045-sd7nob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184291/original/file-20170901-32045-sd7nob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184291/original/file-20170901-32045-sd7nob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184291/original/file-20170901-32045-sd7nob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184291/original/file-20170901-32045-sd7nob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184291/original/file-20170901-32045-sd7nob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184291/original/file-20170901-32045-sd7nob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184291/original/file-20170901-32045-sd7nob.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Banana</em> by Dan Koeppel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Handout</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1260005.Banana"><em>Banana</em></a></h2>
<p>By Dan Koeppel (Non-fiction. Paperback, 2008. Plume.)</p>
<p>Bananas have shaped the modern world but may no longer exist — at least in their current form — in our not-so-distant future. As a kid raised on bananas, I can appreciate the first idea, and find the second hard to believe. But it’s true. </p>
<p>Koeppel tells both of these stories well, tying each together, and leading the reader through the nefarious past and questionable future of a fruit that many of us grew up on and most of us take for granted. The book ties social history, political science, economics, genetics and disease biology together to tell an engaging, and sobering, story of the global history of one of agriculture’s — and breakfast’s — most important players.</p>
<p> </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184286/original/file-20170831-2020-fhjsg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184286/original/file-20170831-2020-fhjsg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184286/original/file-20170831-2020-fhjsg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184286/original/file-20170831-2020-fhjsg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184286/original/file-20170831-2020-fhjsg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184286/original/file-20170831-2020-fhjsg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184286/original/file-20170831-2020-fhjsg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184286/original/file-20170831-2020-fhjsg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Mendel’s Dwarf</em> by Simon Mawer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Handout</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/98781.Mendel_s_Dwarf"><em>Mendel’s Dwarf</em></a></h2>
<p>By Simon Mawer (Fiction. Paperback, 1999. Penguin.)</p>
<p>This is the story of a geneticist, Dr. Benedict Lambert, struggling with himself, his science and his heart. Lambert is a genetic anomaly. In fact, we all are genetically unique but in Lambert’s case, his unique genetics are immediately apparent to all: He has achondroplasia — dwarfism. </p>
<p>He is also a man in love. Unrequited love. Mawer weaves a wonderful tale connecting Lambert, Gregor Mendel (often called the father of modern genetics), human genetics and love. The story and the writing are wonderful, smart and engaging. The science is very well done and woven into the story without overwhelming it. This is the kind of novel that I love to read and wish I could write.</p>
<p> </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184270/original/file-20170831-25608-13uhyg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184270/original/file-20170831-25608-13uhyg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/184270/original/file-20170831-25608-13uhyg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184270/original/file-20170831-25608-13uhyg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184270/original/file-20170831-25608-13uhyg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=923&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184270/original/file-20170831-25608-13uhyg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184270/original/file-20170831-25608-13uhyg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/184270/original/file-20170831-25608-13uhyg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1160&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>The Salt Roads</em> by Nalo Hopkinson.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Handout</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57498.The_Salt_Roads"><em>The Salt Roads</em></a></h2>
<p>By Nalo Hopkinson (Fiction. Hardcover, 2008. Warner.)</p>
<p>Jamaican-Canadian speculative fiction author <a href="http://nalohopkinson.com/">Nalo Hopkinson</a> weaves together a haunting, intricate and absorbing series of stories across centuries and continents, joined by a spiritual entity inhabiting a series of women. The work branches from mythology, to witchcraft, to historical fiction to tell the tales of three women united by beauty, sorrow and hardship. </p>
<p>Hopkinson’s work is fantastic, twisted, turning, challenging and engaging. Her work defies easy description but combines fantasy, science fiction and erotic macabre — think <a href="http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/">Jeanette Winterson</a> or <a href="https://usa.angelacarter.co.uk/">Angela Carter</a>. This novel isn’t an easy read, but it’s infectious and rewarding in its twists, turns and beauty.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Merritt receives funding from The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and The Canada Research Chairs Program. </span></em></p>A fly scientist ponders the genetics of bananas and dwarves, women and love in reviews of his favourite fiction and non-fiction books.Thomas Merritt, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Laurentian UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/642062016-10-24T01:59:53Z2016-10-24T01:59:53ZWith the familiar Cavendish banana in danger, can science help it survive?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142716/original/image-20161021-1763-13xoceb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Facing down a future with no bananas.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/35652152@N07/28004881235">Chris Richmond</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The banana is the world’s most popular fruit crop, with <a href="http://www.fao.org/economic/worldbananaforum/statistics/en/">over 100 million metric tons produced annually</a> in over 130 <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/019/i3627e/i3627e.pdf">tropical and subtropical countries</a>. Edible bananas are the result of a genetic accident in nature that created the seedless fruit we enjoy today. </p>
<p>Virtually all the bananas sold across the Western world belong to the <a href="http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/251899/Banana-growing-guide-cavendish-bananas-1.pdf">so-called Cavendish subgroup</a> of the species and are <a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcm191">genetically nearly identical</a>. These bananas are sterile and <a href="http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/251898/Banana-growing-guide-cavendish-bananas-Complete.pdf">dependent on propagation via cloning</a>, either by using suckers and cuttings taken from the underground stem or through modern tissue culture.</p>
<p>The familiar bright yellow Cavendish banana is ubiquitous in supermarkets and fruit bowls, but it is in imminent danger. The vast worldwide monoculture of genetically identical plants leaves the Cavendish <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1005197">intensely vulnerable to disease outbreaks</a>. </p>
<p>Fungal diseases severely devastated the banana industry once in history and it could soon happen again if we do not resolve the cause of these problems. Plant scientists, including us, are working out the genetics of wild banana varieties and banana pathogens as we try to prevent a Cavendish crash. </p>
<h2>The cautionary tale of ‘Big Mike’</h2>
<p>One of the most prominent examples of genetic vulnerability comes from the banana itself. Up until the 1960s, Gros Michel, or “Big Mike,” was the prime variety grown in commercial plantations. Big Mike was so popular with consumers in the West that the banana industry established ever larger monocultures of this variety. Thousands of hectares <a href="http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Pages/PanamaDiseasePart1.aspx">of tropical forests</a> in Latin America were converted into <a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/299017/banana-by-dan-koeppel/9780452290082">vast Gros Michel plantations</a>.</p>
<p>But Big Mike’s popularity led to its doom, when a pandemic whipped through these plantations during the 1950s and ‘60’s. A fungal disease called Fusarium wilt or Panama disease nearly wiped out the Gros Michel and brought the global banana export industry to the <a href="http://www.agriculturedefensecoalition.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/3T_2000_Banana_Destructive_Panama_Disease_2000.pdf">brink of collapse</a>. A soilborne pathogen was to blame: The fungus <em>Fusarium oxysporum</em> f.sp. <em>cubense</em> (Foc) <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-15-0101-RVW">infected the plants’ root and vascular system</a>. Unable to transport water and nutrients, the plants wilted and died.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142717/original/image-20161021-1778-1ihcafz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142717/original/image-20161021-1778-1ihcafz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142717/original/image-20161021-1778-1ihcafz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142717/original/image-20161021-1778-1ihcafz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142717/original/image-20161021-1778-1ihcafz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142717/original/image-20161021-1778-1ihcafz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142717/original/image-20161021-1778-1ihcafz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142717/original/image-20161021-1778-1ihcafz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A cross-section of a banana plant, infected with the fungus that causes Fusarium wilt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gert Kema</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fusarium wilt is <a href="http://www.promusa.org/Fusarium+wilt">very difficult to control</a> – it spreads easily in soil, water and infected planting material. Fungicide applications in soil or in the plant’s stem are as of yet ineffective. Moreover, the fungus can persist in the soil for several decades, thus prohibiting replanting of susceptible banana plants. </p>
<h2>Is history repeating itself?</h2>
<p>Cavendish bananas are resistant to those devastating Fusarium wilt Race 1 strains, so were able to replace the Gros Michel when it fell to the disease. Despite being less rich in taste and logistical challenges involved with merchandising this fruit to international markets at an acceptable quality, <a href="http://www.apsnet.org/publications/apsnetfeatures/Documents/2005/PanamaDisease2.pdf">Cavendish eventually replaced Gros Michel</a> in commercial banana plantations. The <a href="http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/est/COMM_MARKETS_MONITORING/Bananas/Documents/Banana_Information_Note_2014-_rev.pdf">entire banana industry</a> was restructured, and to date, Cavendish accounts for <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5102e/y5102e04.htm">47 percent of the bananas grown worldwide</a> and <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/10/we-have-no-bananas">99 percent of all bananas sold commercially for export</a> to developed countries. </p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bananas in Costa Rica affected by Black Sigatoka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gert Kema</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But the Cavendish unfortunately has its own weaknesses – most prominently susceptibility to <a href="http://apsjournals.apsnet.org/doi/abs/10.1094/PDIS.2003.87.3.208">a disease called Black Sigatoka</a>. The fungus <em>Pseudocercospora fijiensis</em> attacks the plants’ leaves, causing cell death that affects photosynthesis and leads to a reduction in fruit production and quality. If Black Sigatoka is left uncontrolled, <a href="http://doi.org//10.1111/j.1364-3703.2010.00672.x">banana yields can decline</a> by <a href="http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/fungi/ascomycetes/Pages/BlackSigatoka.aspx">35 to 50 percent</a>.</p>
<p>Cavendish growers currently manage Black Sigatoka through a combination of pruning infected leaves and <a href="http://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2009.828.16">applying fungicides</a>. Yearly, it can take 50 or more applications of chemicals to control the disease. Such heavy use of fungicides has negative impacts on the environment and the occupational health of the banana workers, and increases the costs of production. It also helps select for survival the strains of the fungus with <a href="http://www.frac.info/working-group/banana-group">higher levels of resistance to these chemicals</a>: As the resistant strains become more prevalent, the disease gets harder to control over time.</p>
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<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Aerial spraying of fungicides on a banana plantation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gert Kema</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To further aggravate the situation, Cavendish is also now under attack from <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-04-15-0101-RVW">a recently emerged strain of Fusarium oxysporum</a>, known as Tropical Race 4 (TR4). First identified in the early 1990s in Taiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia, TR4 has since spread to many Southeast Asian countries and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-12-14-1356-PDN">on into the Middle East</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-13-0954-PDN">Africa</a>. If TR4 makes it to Latin America and the Caribbean region, the export banana industry in that part of the world could be in big trouble.</p>
<p>Cavendish varieties have shown <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/504195a">little if any resistance against TR4</a>. Growers are relying on temporary solutions – trying to <a href="http://www.promusa.org/Fusarium+wilt">prevent it</a> from entering new regions, using clean planting materials and limiting the transfer of potentially infected soil between farms.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142714/original/image-20161021-1796-1on3qw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142714/original/image-20161021-1796-1on3qw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142714/original/image-20161021-1796-1on3qw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142714/original/image-20161021-1796-1on3qw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142714/original/image-20161021-1796-1on3qw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142714/original/image-20161021-1796-1on3qw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142714/original/image-20161021-1796-1on3qw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/142714/original/image-20161021-1796-1on3qw6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cavendish banana trees in China infected with new fungal disease TR4.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andre Drenth, UQ</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Black Sigatoka and Panama disease both cause serious production losses and are difficult to control. With the right monitoring in place to rapidly intervene and halt their spread, the risks and damage imposed by these diseases can be considerably reduced, as has been <a href="http://www.musalit.org/seeMore.php?id=14394">recently shown in Australia</a>. But current practices don’t provide the durable solution that’s urgently needed.</p>
<h2>Getting started on banana genetic research</h2>
<p>If there’s a lesson to be learned from the sad history of Gros Michel, it’s that reliance on a large and genetically uniform monoculture is a risky strategy that is prone to failure. To reduce the vulnerability to diseases, we need more genetic diversity in our cultivated bananas. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140963/original/image-20161008-21433-5f2wkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140963/original/image-20161008-21433-5f2wkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/140963/original/image-20161008-21433-5f2wkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140963/original/image-20161008-21433-5f2wkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140963/original/image-20161008-21433-5f2wkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140963/original/image-20161008-21433-5f2wkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140963/original/image-20161008-21433-5f2wkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/140963/original/image-20161008-21433-5f2wkn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Local banana varieties in southern China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andre Drenth, UQ</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over a thousand species of banana have been recorded in the wild. Although most do not have the desired agronomic characteristics – such as high yields of seedless, nonacidic fruits with long shelf life – that would make them a direct substitute for the Cavendish, they are an untapped genetic resource. Scientists could search within them for resistance genes and other desirable traits to use in engineering and breeding programs.</p>
<p>To date, though, there’s been little effort and insufficient funding for collecting, protecting, characterizing and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.897.4">utilizing wild banana genetic material</a>. Consequently, while almost every other crop used for food production has been significantly improved through plant breeding over the last century, the banana industry has yet to benefit from genetics and plant breeding.</p>
<p>But we have started taking the first steps. We now know the <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature11241">genome sequences of the banana</a> and the fungi that <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0095543">cause Fusarium wilt</a> and <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005904">Sigatoka</a>. These studies helped illuminate some of the molecular mechanisms by which these fungal pathogens cause disease in the banana. That knowledge provides a basis for <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005904">identifying disease-resistant genes</a> in wild and cultivated bananas.</p>
<p>Researchers <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1005876">now have the tools</a> to <a href="https://www.google.co.in/patents/WO2011005090A1?cl=en">identify resistance genes</a> in wild bananas <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1002910107">or other plant species</a>. Then they can use classical plant breeding or genetic engineering to transfer those genes into desired cultivars. Scientists can also use these tools to further study the dynamics and evolution of banana pathogens in the field, and monitor changes in their resistance to fungicides.</p>
<p>Availability of the latest tools and detailed genome sequences, coupled with long-term visionary research in genetics, engineering and plant breeding, can help us keep abreast of the pathogens that are currently menacing the Cavendish banana. Ultimately we need to increase the pool of genetic diversity in cultivated bananas so we’re not dependent on single clones such as the Cavendish or the Gros Michel before it. Otherwise we remain at risk of history repeating itself.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64206/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>André Drenth receives funding from Horticulture Innovation Australia </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gert Kema is a senior scientist and professor of tropical phytopathology at Wageningen University and Research. He receives funding for his R&D program on banana, see <a href="http://www.panamadisease.org">www.panamadisease.org</a>. He also co-founded two companies dealing with banana and owns shares in Yellow Pallet, a company that produces transport pallets from banana fiber. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ioannis Stergiopoulos does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Every single Cavendish banana plant worldwide is genetically identical. This vast monoculture sets them up for disastrous disease outbreaks. But researchers have ideas on how to protect the crop.Ioannis Stergiopoulos, Assistant Professor of Plant Pathology, University of California, DavisAndré Drenth, Professor of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of QueenslandGert Kema, Special Professor of Phytopathology, Wageningen UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/540822016-02-04T13:30:12Z2016-02-04T13:30:12ZDisease may wipe out world’s bananas – but here’s how we might just save them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110193/original/image-20160203-5853-121eshf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vanatchanan / shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Catastrophe is looming for the banana industry. A new strain has emerged of a soil-borne fungus known as “Panama disease” which can wipe out entire plantations – and it is rapidly spreading around the world. Farmers in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/feb/02/family-say-they-will-keep-operating-banana-plantation-despite-disease">Australia</a>, <a href="http://latincorrespondent.com/2015/12/strain-of-panama-disease-could-soon-spread-to-latin-america/">Latin America</a> and across <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1001731/banana-killing-fungus-found-in-pakistan-among-others/">Asia</a> and <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/global-banana-blight-hits-mozambique/3026677.html">Africa</a> all fear the worst.</p>
<p>The fungus is almost impossible to stop or eradicate. It moves through soil, so contamination can be as simple as infected dirt travelling from one farm to another on the sole of a shoe, or as complex as soil particles blowing on the wind across long distances – even across oceans, in theory. </p>
<p>Faced with huge losses to a global industry, many have <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35131751">called for</a> a new strain of disease-resistant “superbanana”. However, this would be just another temporary fix. After all, the world’s most popular banana, the Cavendish, was itself the wonder fruit of its day, being introduced in the 1950s after an earlier strain of Panama disease destroyed its predecessor. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110307/original/image-20160204-3024-1p5tn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110307/original/image-20160204-3024-1p5tn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110307/original/image-20160204-3024-1p5tn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110307/original/image-20160204-3024-1p5tn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110307/original/image-20160204-3024-1p5tn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=897&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110307/original/image-20160204-3024-1p5tn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110307/original/image-20160204-3024-1p5tn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110307/original/image-20160204-3024-1p5tn4y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1128&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Panama disease causes banana plants to wilt and die.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/scotnelson/5680833415/">Scot Nelson</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fungi simply adapted and fought back, though, until the Cavendish also became susceptible. Panama and other diseases will continue to do so until we seriously reform how we grow and market bananas. </p>
<p>The banana industry is its own worst enemy. The huge farms where most exported bananas are grown are ideal for pests. These plantations are monocultures, which means they grow only bananas and nothing else. With very few shifts between crops over the years, and lots of tropical sunshine, there is an abundant and year-round supply of food for pests without any breaks, in time or space, to disrupt the supply and lower the disease pressure.</p>
<p>Banana producers spend a third of their income on controlling these pests, according to <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606705/">a study I published in 2013</a>. Chemicals to control microscopic but deadly worms are applied several times a year. Herbicides that control weeds are applied up to eight times a year, while bananas may be sprayed with fungicides from a plane more than 50 times per year in order to control Black Sigatoka, an airborne fungus. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110317/original/image-20160204-3020-1pbqvvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110317/original/image-20160204-3020-1pbqvvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110317/original/image-20160204-3020-1pbqvvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110317/original/image-20160204-3020-1pbqvvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=871&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110317/original/image-20160204-3020-1pbqvvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1094&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110317/original/image-20160204-3020-1pbqvvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1094&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110317/original/image-20160204-3020-1pbqvvd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1094&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Keep out, pests!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BananasBlueBagStLucia.jpg">Fairsing</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And those bags that are wrapped around each individual banana bunch? They’re <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3606705/">lined with insecticides</a> to serve as both a physical and chemical barrier to insects feeding on and damaging the skins.</p>
<p>All of this amounts to approximately one litre of active ingredients for every 18.6 kg box of bananas that is exported to consumers in the global north. It’s a huge, long-running problem for the industry and the new strain of Panama disease may just be the nail in its coffin.</p>
<p>Or maybe this is the wake-up call the export banana industry so desperately needs.</p>
<h2>Searching for the superbanana</h2>
<p>Given the way the fungus spreads, containment and quarantine are hardly long-term solutions. Some experts, especially those entrenched in the business of growing export bananas, argue that we need to <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005197#sec005">breed or genetically modify</a> a new type of banana that is resistant to the latest strain of Panama disease.</p>
<p>But this is harder than it sounds. Modern bananas – the tasty yellow ones – don’t exist in nature; they were bred into existence around 10,000 years ago. They reproduce asexually, which means they don’t have seeds and every banana is a genetic clone of the previous generation. </p>
<p>This lack of genetic variation makes breeding a new banana particularly challenging. If one Cavendish is susceptible to a disease, all others will be too. When all bananas are clones, how do you create the genetic variation from which traits for better disease resistance can be identified and nurtured?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110322/original/image-20160204-2993-1lnm1ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110322/original/image-20160204-2993-1lnm1ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/110322/original/image-20160204-2993-1lnm1ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110322/original/image-20160204-2993-1lnm1ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110322/original/image-20160204-2993-1lnm1ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110322/original/image-20160204-2993-1lnm1ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110322/original/image-20160204-2993-1lnm1ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/110322/original/image-20160204-2993-1lnm1ea.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Identical bananas – and only bananas – for miles on end.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">underworld / shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A new banana would also have to be tasty, durable enough to withstand long voyages without bruising, and bright yellow. Looks really do trump pest-resistance. A new type of banana introduced during a previous Panama disease panic back in the 1920s was <a href="http://environmentalhistory.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/7-3_Soluri.pdf">rejected by consumers</a> for going black on the outside, even when it was ripe and sweet inside.</p>
<h2>Saving the banana</h2>
<p>Today, banana growers are in a fight for survival, continuously applying newly-formulated fungicides in an effort to keep ahead of the diseases. But they are acutely aware that they are losing ground. While breeding a new banana staves off the current problem, history has already shown that this doesn’t get to the root of the problem, which is the design of the production system.</p>
<p>We need to ditch the massive farms. Around the world, millions of small-scale farmers already grow bananas in a more organic and sustainable way. Alongside bananas are cacao, avocado, mango, corn, orange, lemon and more. A mix of crops creates <a href="http://www.sidalc.net/repdoc/A7640i/A7640i.pdf">more stable production systems</a> which rely on fewer, if any, pesticides and generates diverse income sources, handing local people greater food sovereignty. Farms where bananas are mixed in with other crops are also <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877343513001449">more resilient to climate change</a> which is likely to hit banana-producing regions – developing countries – harder than most.</p>
<p>Yes, this would mean fewer bananas are grown. Sustainable agriculture simply can’t keep up with the megafarms. But if we learned to ignore the odd blemished or undersized banana, then the actual amount sent to market need not drop at all. </p>
<p>The farmers themselves should be okay as they’ll make up their income by producing different crops. Breaking the dominance of the banana multinationals should also distribute wealth among more farmers and empower the regions where they’re grown. As a consumer, ask yourself this: isn’t that a far better way to spend your money?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/54082/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angelina Sanderson Bellamy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We need to break up the industry, not focus on creating a disease-resistant ‘superbanana’.Angelina Sanderson Bellamy, Research Associate, Sustainable Places Research Institute, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/268402014-05-19T14:39:04Z2014-05-19T14:39:04ZOur favourite fruits come in thousands of varieties, but no supermarket will ever sell them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48750/original/c5q9m273-1400256912.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Bubble berries are very much the exception to modern fruit retail</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.waitrose.presscentre.com/Press-Releases/Anyone-For-Bubbleberries-and-Cream-e3f.aspx">Waitrose</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The bubble berries <a href="https://theconversation.com/its-fruit-but-not-as-we-know-it-how-bubbleberries-can-look-like-strawberries-and-taste-of-gum-26247">trialling in Waitrose supermarkets</a> may taste of bubble gum, but they are not some clever 21st century genetic modification. These beautifully fragrant fruits, which are a variety of small strawberry, were in fact popular in the 19th century. Then they fell out of favour and had been all but forgotten by modern consumers. </p>
<p>Whether their return is for a few weeks or for the long term, they are a reminder of the wide sub-species of popular fruits that exist around the world but rarely appear in supermarkets. We are used to seeing the same two or three versions of our most familiar fruits and give little thought to their thousands of cousins. We’ll talk about why this happens in a moment, but first a little bit of information on the best-known fruits on the market. </p>
<p>The top five are apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries and clementines. Between them they make up 64% of the Scottish market (the UK market follows much the same pattern). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48715/original/gjcrh9pf-1400236704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48715/original/gjcrh9pf-1400236704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48715/original/gjcrh9pf-1400236704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48715/original/gjcrh9pf-1400236704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48715/original/gjcrh9pf-1400236704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48715/original/gjcrh9pf-1400236704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48715/original/gjcrh9pf-1400236704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48715/original/gjcrh9pf-1400236704.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=367&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The fruit hit parade, Scotland 2011.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cesar Revoredo-Giha</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Apples</h2>
<p>There are more than 7,500 varieties of apple, but only very few are ever available. Varieties such as Braeburn, Gala, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith dominate the volume sales market, while Bramley is the cooking apple of choice. These come in ahead of other supermarket regulars like Pink Ladies, Jazz and Cox, which represents about 50% of apples harvested in the UK. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48746/original/bz6vjj3d-1400255376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48746/original/bz6vjj3d-1400255376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48746/original/bz6vjj3d-1400255376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48746/original/bz6vjj3d-1400255376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48746/original/bz6vjj3d-1400255376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48746/original/bz6vjj3d-1400255376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48746/original/bz6vjj3d-1400255376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48746/original/bz6vjj3d-1400255376.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Braeburn crunched!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sethladd/2202963268/in/photolist-6atDvH-gC5kAf-7AXvC-7AXy2-5cqTzZ-8HMU3G-7yQAYw-AJDUk-kCECM8-5ZLpJy-kCF8nn-7QBipA-aQyNXv-7QxYbD-7QBkiU-dPUnZ-5wyf1y-6jRqf6-9geypv-6frjXk-6NYpw1-4mBTdA-4mELej-6HQeGT-6z9UUk-e6spVb-8ManDt-4nBFMR-9D2E6o-6zoW2C-4wM1q1-4nqm8q-5rqyz9-5rmezg-bMBQk8-5E9amr-byHbuA-YR37c-6i37LV-6KpP6L-5Edrk7-8zkmaN-4JqFKh-4JmtnX-C9bfd-JpLmH-7fZ8Ho-7JjbJm-8zkkRC-5RAyxu">Seth Ladd</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bananas</h2>
<p>Bananas may not bring in the most money, but they are the most popular fruit in the UK by consumption per capita. They surpassed apples a few years ago (see graphic) thanks to clever advertising and excellent prices, not to mention a large number of plus points: they are easy to open, high in fibre, vitamins and energy, low in calories and a first-class hangover cure! </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48719/original/mrbhm3cg-1400237479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48719/original/mrbhm3cg-1400237479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48719/original/mrbhm3cg-1400237479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48719/original/mrbhm3cg-1400237479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48719/original/mrbhm3cg-1400237479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=289&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48719/original/mrbhm3cg-1400237479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48719/original/mrbhm3cg-1400237479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48719/original/mrbhm3cg-1400237479.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=363&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The rise and rise of the ‘nana.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cesar Revoredo-Giha</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.chiquitabananas.com/Banana-Information/exotic-banana-types.aspx">There are more than 400 banana varieties</a> grown in the world. The Cavendish variety has dominated since the 1950s when it <a href="http://www.raw-food-health.net/Gros-Michel.html">replaced the Gros Michel</a>, which was susceptible to fusarium wilt and hence less suitable for cultivation in large commercial plantations. In 2010 the Cavendish <a href="http://www.promusa.org/Cavendish+subgroup">accounted for 40%</a> of global banana production. </p>
<h2>Grapes</h2>
<p>The UK <a href="http://www.cbi.eu/system/files/marketintel/2011_Fresh_grapes_in_the_United_Kingdom.pdf">ranks about 11th-largest consumer</a> of grapes in the EU behind Italy, France and Spain. Their popularity is also waning, having peaked in 2005. </p>
<p>The number of grape varieties is immense, including both table grapes and wine grapes. But only a limited number are retailed in supermarkets, including Sultana (Thompson seedless), Flame, Muscat, Almeria and Concord grape.</p>
<h2>Strawberries</h2>
<p>Strawberries were a waning product that made a comeback. This was on the back of a big push in Dutch strawberries, which were developed in the 1980s and 1990s and replaced home-grown varieties such as Cambridge Vigour, Hapil and <a href="http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/strawberry-honeoye/classid.2000008915/">Honeoye</a>. </p>
<p>There has also been an increase in strawberry production in the UK, including Scotland, where the main varieties grown are Elsanta and Sonata. As many as 90% of them are grown in polytunnels and with the season expanded from six weeks to six months. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48745/original/t5b2ysp9-1400255250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48745/original/t5b2ysp9-1400255250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48745/original/t5b2ysp9-1400255250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48745/original/t5b2ysp9-1400255250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48745/original/t5b2ysp9-1400255250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48745/original/t5b2ysp9-1400255250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48745/original/t5b2ysp9-1400255250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48745/original/t5b2ysp9-1400255250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pass the cream!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/seelensturm/9377915230/in/photolist-bDcqKE-8hqo8x-NFSsW-bS79VT-bDcqs5-8DL1T-e4sBMH-8JCr55-9H4VNo-5kbFFc-7XQCoY-9KWgqx-85W3Ei-kNRdus-6jaW55-etBDt-65GAhA-4G7wHd-62nmSy-44XpH8-3e2qrG-8aG2um-jZi3D-6vjRFH-32opMD-p69s-7UjiPo-j8LS1x-4ESEp9-iYAnAt-9XKCj8-bVA8uM-5UArw7-ewH5b-6rXi8n-4UjFCJ-59LswB-4EtPH2-a1NRc9-fhGgtC-23PvUG-dnDvQJ-bp9oU3-8ahYMA-2HARhP-DWMAo-69i8g9-bAx3am-fHF76-2A5vec">F_A</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These berries have largely overshadowed lesser known UK varieties such as Cambridge favourite, Christine, Marshmellow, Pegasus, Rhapsody, Rosie, Symphony or Alpine strawberries. But despite the healthy home market, a large number of our strawberries still come from the likes of Spain and Israel. </p>
<h2>Clementines</h2>
<p>Clementines are a citrus variety which is a hybrid between a mandarin and a sweet orange. This means they don’t come in lots of varieties, unlike the rest of the top five fruits. They are usually grown in north Africa and southern Europe. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48748/original/g4hck55j-1400255576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48748/original/g4hck55j-1400255576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48748/original/g4hck55j-1400255576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48748/original/g4hck55j-1400255576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48748/original/g4hck55j-1400255576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48748/original/g4hck55j-1400255576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48748/original/g4hck55j-1400255576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48748/original/g4hck55j-1400255576.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=668&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oh ma darlin’…</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/federico_soffici/3153856962/in/photolist-5NGkNb-5KpGv2-9u35Ck-9svNSy-9siyMw-7ZNzR4-avGPf1-dZM2AH-9TssaY-8XZMHi-9t1aFg-7BnCb3-b8ZSRH-gwyWx-hMt8nZ-cVhNXb-9wUm1t-9uRTCE-9u62iC-3azqJo-9wUnCv-9sJDKp-7L5f4-a9qvqP-9u31eV-er2a2-duSvNo-64JCHo-9wXn8U-9sJFM8-4apj8a-dEkJDN-5NhGWw-6FqKhE-a9tk3o-9svWm3-e5aypt-62b9Gc-79t6a-4cNT3Y-b6SSE-brd6FL-7FfFU1-4xPcjc-4xTooQ-dZM3Zv-7Z3qee-47T6jw-71shtN-4xTony">Federico Soffici</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To explain why we see so few of the thousands of varieties of these fruits in our supermarkets, clementines excepted, you have to look at the changes in the supply chains and particularly retailing since the 1990s. These changes <a href="http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=870566">have been put down to</a> a number of factors.</p>
<p>First, supermarkets react to increasing competition by having costs as low as possible. Fresh produce is one of the few categories that will make shoppers switch stores so the big players regularly broaden their offerings, but they’ll tend to do this in ways that don’t affect costs too much. So commonly they’ll restrict each type of fruit to as few varieties as possible. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/16/contents">1990 Food Safety Act</a> requires buyers to take all steps to ensure the safety of the food they received from their suppliers. This was reinforced by the growth of supermarkets’ own-label products, which are very important to the fresh produce category. Both developments brought tighter supply-chain control. </p>
<p>Supermarkets sought more consistent quality in fresh produce and to squeeze costs out of the supply chain. This pressure has helped bring about fewer, larger, technically efficient and innovative suppliers. Note that these suppliers are not necessarily based in the UK but cover all parts of the world. </p>
<p>In short, the fruit supply chains were increasingly co-ordinated from producers to retailers to achieve specific standards that reflect the needs of each segment in the chain. This wouldn’t be compatible with selling many varieties of the same fruit because different varieties have different yields, pest resistance, flavour, maintenance of quality under cold storage, resistance to transportation, and so forth. There are also the economies of scale to think about: you save money by expanding your level of production of a single variety. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48749/original/724wfpg9-1400256238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48749/original/724wfpg9-1400256238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48749/original/724wfpg9-1400256238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48749/original/724wfpg9-1400256238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48749/original/724wfpg9-1400256238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48749/original/724wfpg9-1400256238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48749/original/724wfpg9-1400256238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48749/original/724wfpg9-1400256238.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The sweetest peeling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kt/1473527090/in/photolist-3fddgu-xcqBN-4eycs4-9E2PAf-dSAz9g-ehWSEM-51k43D-fQambp-fwcfvH-6krzWQ-fQambH-fQrVph-fQrVoE-fQrVq5-8AVqm2-7JH2gK-9E2Pyj-9E2Po3-9DYVMe-9E2PvC-9E2Px5-9DYVL2-9DYVHg-8bgPm6-5Qh3G7-wVRAr-6MwYeZ-cBRbWN-8Nw7Dp-5mhzuR-5ZFdCs-cyTJW9-7UJ7fC-9eARcw-asQyXX-bX5xrN-bX5w5q-bX5DiW-9DYC32-dep5DE-dMSHy4-7DXsns-96VMDs-6krA9s-7KF76i-5Tz86c-4gWuGK-KkfwQ-adotgM-fwr1Ex">Kevin Trotman</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Then there is the consumer side of the equation. Cosmetic concerns demand a large enough crop that would allow a farmer or packer to select fruits with the minimum number of imperfections. Consumer simplicity is obviously a key reason for the fruits in the top five. They are all easy to eat, portable, and don’t have stones or lots of seeds. For all these reasons, our best-known fruits have tended to concentrate on just a few convenient varieties in recent years, where taste may not always be the top priority. </p>
<p>The Elsanta strawberry is an excellent example of this supply chain engineering. It is considered the supermarket dream fruit, with a bright appearance, long shelf-life and glossy firm skin. It can be transported long distances without bruising. Its huge berry makes it quick and cheap to pick. When this is available, why would you want to cultivate any alternatives?</p>
<p>So welcome to the modern supermarket fresh produce section. You’ll see a diverse assortment of fruit. From time to time interesting varieties such as bubble berries will come to the fore. But you won’t see many varieties of the same fruit. They just don’t fit the tried-and-tested model. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26840/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The piece derives partly from work commissioned by the Scottish Government as part of the 2011-16 Research Programme on Food Security and Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chains.</span></em></p>The bubble berries trialling in Waitrose supermarkets may taste of bubble gum, but they are not some clever 21st century genetic modification. These beautifully fragrant fruits, which are a variety of…Cesar Revoredo-Giha, Senior Economist and Team Leader of Food Marketing Research, Scotland's Rural CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/81802012-07-11T20:36:42Z2012-07-11T20:36:42ZMusa genome mapped: that’s bananas!<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12817/original/tj9xbh2h-1341976335.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The completed sequence of the banana's 11 chromosomes has global implications.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Caro Wallace</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What’s not to love about bananas? Besides being a wildly popular dessert fruit, they are the staple food of millions of people in developing countries.</p>
<p>The current edition of Nature <a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature11241.html">carries a paper</a> that marks a major milestone for both bananas and plant biotechnology. </p>
<p>Some 18 research groups – ten from France, three from USA, one from Switzerland, one from Czech Republic, one from UK, one from Australia and one from Netherlands – have published the first draft sequence of the 523-<a href="http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=25475">megabase</a> genome of <a href="http://www.promusa.org/tiki-index.php?page=DH+Pahang">DH-Pahang</a>, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubled_haploidy">doubled-haploid genotype</a> of the subspecies <a href="http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/pg_from_tb323_panama.pdf">malaccensis</a>, that contributed one of the three <a href="http://www.promusa.org/tiki-index.php?page=Acuminata+genome">acuminata genomes</a> of the common dessert banana, <a href="http://www.australiantropicalfruits.org.au/tropical_fruits/produce_types/banana/cavendish/">Cavendish</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12818/original/pdh5vj9p-1341977805.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12818/original/pdh5vj9p-1341977805.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12818/original/pdh5vj9p-1341977805.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12818/original/pdh5vj9p-1341977805.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12818/original/pdh5vj9p-1341977805.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12818/original/pdh5vj9p-1341977805.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12818/original/pdh5vj9p-1341977805.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12818/original/pdh5vj9p-1341977805.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">LordKhan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This is the first completed sequence of the 11 chromosomes of banana and it provides the first detailed genetic blueprint of the most important fruit crop in the world and one of the most important food crops after staple cereals and <a href="http://www.cassavachips.com/cassava.html">cassava</a>. </p>
<p>This publicly-available finished sequence is anchored to the genetic map, providing both the linear order of the 36,542 genes and their positions on the 11 banana chromosomes. </p>
<p>The new Nature paper unravels the major features of the banana genome in terms of <a href="http://chemistry.gravitywaves.com/CHEMXL153/NucleotidesCompandStruc.htm">nucleotide composition</a> and <a href="http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/glossary=repeatsequences">repeats</a>. </p>
<p>Nucleotides are the basic building blocks of nucleic acids, such as DNA and RNA. They are organic compounds made up of a nitrogenous base, a sugar, and a phosphate group – the way they line up in the nucleic acid queue has a huge impact on the function they perform. </p>
<p>The new paper also unravels the major features of the banana in terms of gene content and variability. </p>
<p>The research bridges a large gap in genome evolution studies and sheds new light on the monocot lineage (flowering plants are divided into two classes, <a href="http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss8/monocotdicot.html">monocots and dicots</a>, mainly based on whether they have one or two <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/c/cotyledon.htm">cotyledons</a> in the seeds respectively). </p>
<p>The paper compares the banana genome with three members of grass family, rice, <a href="http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-sorghum.htm">sorghum</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachypodium">Brachypodium</a>, one non-<a href="http://www.wordreference.com/definition/graminaceous">graminaceous</a> monocot, date-palm and a dicot, <a href="http://www.arabidopsis.org/portals/education/aboutarabidopsis.jsp">Arabidopsis</a> to reveal 7,674 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_cluster">gene clusters</a> that are common to all six species, thus representing ancestral gene families. </p>
<p>To put that number in context, more than <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_genetic_clustering">326 or 377 clusters</a> are needed to show human individuals are more similar to individuals in their own population group than to individuals in different population groups.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11130711">genome sequence of Arabidopsis</a>, a dicot weed widely used in research, was the first genetic code of a plant to be released, in November 2000. </p>
<p>Rice, a monocot of grass family (which includes maize, wheat, barley and sorghum) was the next important genome to be <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16100779">released in 2005</a>. </p>
<p>And now finally, in 2012, we have the banana genome - arguably the most important of these in terms of its global significance.</p>
<h2>Quality control</h2>
<p>As already mentioned, bananas and <a href="http://grabemsnacks.com/what-is-a-plantain.html">plantains</a> are the staple food of millions of people in developing countries, especially in Eastern and Western Africa.</p>
<p>Exposing the complete genetic code of banana will help speed up the ongoing breeding efforts to develop new cultivars with improved fruit quality and disease-resistance. Until now, such improvements have required years of crossing between male and female flowers from banana parents because of the high levels of male sterility among the commercially-favoured <a href="http://www.le.ac.uk/bl/phh4/openpubs/bananacytogenetics.htm">triploid banana</a> cultivars. </p>
<p>(Triploid bananas have three sets of chromosomes and hence cannot pair up into even numbered groups – that makes them sterile, and most sterile plants produce no seeds. Banana fruit from triploid varieties is therefore seedless).</p>
<h2>Breeding for feeding</h2>
<p>For molecular breeding in any crop species, not only the gene sequence but the sequence information linked to the complete genetic map of the genome is required to exploit the full potential of the sequences. </p>
<p>If breeders transfer one gene to the progeny during breeding they need to understand which neighbouring genes will come tagging along – and not every neighbour is a good one.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12819/original/q87ktqv9-1341977848.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12819/original/q87ktqv9-1341977848.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/12819/original/q87ktqv9-1341977848.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12819/original/q87ktqv9-1341977848.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12819/original/q87ktqv9-1341977848.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=408&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12819/original/q87ktqv9-1341977848.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12819/original/q87ktqv9-1341977848.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/12819/original/q87ktqv9-1341977848.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=512&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Skely</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using the newly-released sequence data, banana biotechnologists can isolate genes and regulatory sequences more easily and use them to <a href="http://www.news-medical.net/health/What-is-Gene-Expression.aspx">over-express or under-express</a> genes for desirable traits and functions.</p>
<p>This will have implications for <a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/t/transgenic_plants.htm">transgenics</a> (the branch of biology concerned with the transfer of genes to other species) and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgenesis">cisgenics</a> (a cisgene is a natural gene coding for a trait from the crop plant itself or from a crossable species used in conventional breeding). </p>
<p>The new sequence is of inestimable significance to banana researchers and is bound to yield tangible results from the standpoint of offering food security and combating malnutrition in the tropical world – one of the many health issues addressed by the <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Pages/home.aspx">Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation</a> program on Global health improvement.</p>
<p>One of the <a href="http://www.grandchallenges.org/Pages/Default.aspx">Grand Challenges in Global Health</a> focuses on nutrition and one of the funded <a href="http://www.grandchallenges.org/ImproveNutrition/Challenges/NutrientRichPlants/Pages/Bananas.aspx">programs</a> aims to improve the nutritional status in Uganda and surrounding countries through the generation of edible bananas acceptable to farmers and consumers, with significantly increased fruit levels of pro-vitamin A and iron.</p>
<h2>Defend and serve</h2>
<p>To understand the full significance of the publication of the banana sequence, one maybe needs to read the epic 2011 <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/10/110110fa_fact_peed">article in The New Yorker</a> by Mike Peed concerning the demise of the Cavendish banana (which currently makes up 99% of exported bananas). </p>
<p>That same article also profiles the devastating disease known to scientists as <a href="http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Content/File/p/Plant_Pest/786.pdf">Fusarium Tropical Race Four</a> (a fungal disease commonly known as Panama disease) and <a href="http://gizmodo.com/5724863/a-fungus-is-destroying-all-of-our-bananas">often referred to as</a> the “H.I.V. of banana plantations”. </p>
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusarium_oxysporum_f.sp._cubense">Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense</a> (Foc), the causal pathogen of <a href="http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/quarantine/naqs/naqs-fact-sheets/fusarium-wilt">Fusarium wilt</a> of banana is a soil-borne fungus that kills the banana cells and colonises the dead tissue. </p>
<p>There are no long-term chemical or physical measures to control it. Due to the low fertility and long generation times of conventional breeding with <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304423807002440">Musa germplasm</a>, exploitation of resistance genes that have been identified in diploid banana species has been slow. </p>
<p>Transgenics offers a very promising alternative strategy for the improvement of commercial Fusarium-resistant banana varieties. </p>
<p>The published sequence has identified many of the defence-related genes and this fact is specifically important because the sequenced DH-Pahang is highly resistant to this dreaded fungus.</p>
<p>On hearing about the new paper, my colleague <a href="http://www.ctcb.qut.edu.au/about/staff/manage/dalej.jsp">James Dale</a>, Director of Tropical Crops and Biocommodities at Queensland University of Technology, said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Tropical Race 4 is the greatest threat to Cavendish and other banana production in the world. Malaccensis has resistance and is very important source of resistance genes against this disease. </p>
<p>We are already testing some of these genes in a field trial in North Australia and we had used alternative methods to isolate these genes. Now we have an easier way of accessing them.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To put it mildly, we are very pleased to see the publication of the banana sequence.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/8180/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harjeet Khanna does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>What’s not to love about bananas? Besides being a wildly popular dessert fruit, they are the staple food of millions of people in developing countries. The current edition of Nature carries a paper that…Harjeet Khanna, Senior scientist in plant biotech, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/29452011-08-30T20:39:20Z2011-08-30T20:39:20ZAs the apple import ban crumbles, is it time to go bananas?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3226/original/bananaapples.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The benefits of lifting the import ban on bananas outweigh the risks.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Maxey</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The ban on importing apples from New Zealand was lifted earlier this month, bringing to an end a restriction established in 1921.</p>
<p>With this long history of protection from imports, it is not unexpected that growers of apples and pears in Australia would protest vigorously with the Federal Government. </p>
<p>The growers argue that their protest is not motivated by a desire for continued protection from competition, but by concerns about the associated risks from importing various exotic pests and diseases that could substantially diminish their livelihood.</p>
<p>It has been known for a long time that people’s perceptions of a risk and the actual risk can be substantially different. Individuals tend to make decisions, or form opinions, based upon their perceptions of risk. </p>
<p>This divergence between perception and reality causes difficulty in the design of public policy. It does so especially where a decision may cause irreversible damage.</p>
<h2>Core issues</h2>
<p>In trying to understand the controversy over imports of apples, it is necessary to understand what caused the imposition of the ban some 90 years ago, what has changed in recent times to cause the reversal of policy, and what may be the economic consequences in Australia of importing apples from New Zealand. </p>
<p>It is also instructive in the current situation to consider the economic consequences of the de facto ban on imports of bananas from the Philippines.</p>
<p>The ban on imports of apples from New Zealand in 1921 was imposed because of the discovery in that country of fire blight – a bacteria that reduces yields of healthy fruit and which may cause the death of fruit trees. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3222/original/applesprotest.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3222/original/applesprotest.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3222/original/applesprotest.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3222/original/applesprotest.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3222/original/applesprotest.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3222/original/applesprotest.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3222/original/applesprotest.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">New Zealand farmers have pushed for Australia to lift the ban for years.</span>
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<p>The risk of fire blight arriving in Australia through imported apples and causing severe biological and economic damage to the industry here, was deemed at the time to be unacceptably high. </p>
<p>Given the scientific knowledge available at the time, this may have been a correct policy response. However, today, with greater scientific knowledge and better ways of managing risk, the policy response to the risk has changed. It is now possible to consider a range of strategies, short of an import ban, to control risk.</p>
<h2>International obligations</h2>
<p>The key to understanding the change of Australia’s import policy is to know that since 1995, Australia has been bound, as a Member of the World Trade Organization (WTO), by the rules set out in the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS measures). </p>
<p>These rules are underpinned by scientific risk assessment. Any member may challenge another member’s SPS measures on the basis that they may not be consistent with the Agreement.</p>
<p>It is in this context that New Zealand brought Australia’s import ban to the Dispute Settlement Body of the WTO in 2007. </p>
<p>The Dispute Panel made its report in August last year on the basis of the legal and scientific evidence provided to it by both countries. It recommended that Australia bring its SPS measures for apples into conformity with its obligations under the Agreement.</p>
<p>These measures related to fire blight, to European canker and to apple leaf curling midge. The Australian Government appealed the ruling but lost, thus the change of policy on the 17th of August this year. </p>
<p>Whether the domestic political economy of the issue would have continued in the absence of the external ruling, is a matter for speculation. What is certain is that there will be imports of apples from New Zealand and that these will have been subjected to risk management protocols that New Zealand must put in place.</p>
<h2>Banana split</h2>
<p>Another fruit that has been in the news twice in the past five years is bananas. On each occasion, Australian production was substantially reduced because of cyclone damage and, in the absence of imports, prices at retail increased approximately five-fold. </p>
<p>Had there been imports, there would have been little appreciable increase in the price and consumers would have benefited. The reason why there were no imports is that they have been deemed to pose too great a risk to domestic production because of the possibility of importing exotic pests and diseases.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3224/original/bananasyasi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/3224/original/bananasyasi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3224/original/bananasyasi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3224/original/bananasyasi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=344&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3224/original/bananasyasi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3224/original/bananasyasi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/3224/original/bananasyasi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=432&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cyclone Yasi destroyed much of this year’s banana crop.</span>
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<p>Since 2000, Biosecurity Australia has undertaken a number of import risk assessments for fruits and vegetables, including bananas from the Philippines.</p>
<p>In 2008, it produced a report in which it recommended that imports of bananas from the Philippines be permitted if, and only if, certain risk management protocols were put in place in that country. </p>
<p>In 2009, a Senate committee criticised the import risk assessment on which the recommendation was based and, in particular, the imposition on the Philippines of risk management protocols which the committee judged to be impracticable. Therefore, there remains in place a de facto ban on imports of bananas from that country.</p>
<p>It should be noted that quarantine policy is based on the result of scientific risk assessment, largely without reference to economics. The benefits to consumers of lower prices and more choice is not taken into account, nor are the alternative uses to which resources could be put which are currently being used to produce apples and bananas. </p>
<p>In other words, decisions about quarantine policy are not based on a public-interest test using cost benefit analysis. There have been at least three economic studies conducted on the import policy on bananas and each has concluded that overall national benefits would accrue were imports to be allowed. </p>
<p>The most recent research made use of economics and statistical methods to conclude that it would be optimal for Australia to move to the free importation of bananas in the next six or so years.</p>
<p>This research took into account reasonable assumptions about the probability of entry of exotic pests and diseases and the damage that might be caused, the benefits of delaying an opening up of imports in order to undertake further scientific study, as well as the benefits to consumers from lower prices.</p>
<p>It is an uncomfortable truth that the world is full of risks and that our perceptions of them are often quite different from reality.</p>
<p>The measurement of risk alone is insufficient for designing public policy, although that is the basis of the trade rules contained in the SPS agreement. </p>
<p>Public policy decisions about import risks ought to take account of the economic costs and benefits of the status quo compared with alternative import regimes. </p>
<p>When that has been done, it has been shown repeatedly that Australia would benefit from allowing higher levels of imports. </p>
<p>With the success of New Zealand for apples, it is probably only a matter of time before exporters of other fruits and vegetables appeal to the World Trade Organisation for a ruling on Australia’s very restrictive import regime for these commodities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/2945/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donald MacLaren does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The ban on importing apples from New Zealand was lifted earlier this month, bringing to an end a restriction established in 1921. With this long history of protection from imports, it is not unexpected…Donald MacLaren, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.