First we read about "
Florida citrus under siege from greening disease" in 2008 and
"Florida orange groves still shrinking, USDA says" this year.
Now it's bananas.
How the heck am I supposed to meet the First Lady's nutrition guidelines?
From the New Yorker:
Can scientists defeat a devastating blight?
ABSTRACT: A REPORTER AT LARGE about Tropical Race Four, a soil-borne fungus threatening Cavendish banana cultivation. More than a thousand kinds of banana can be found worldwide, but a variety called Cavendish, which a nineteenth-century British explorer happened upon in a household garden in southern China, represents ninety-nine per cent of the banana export market.
The vast majority of banana varieties are not viable for international trade: their bunches are too small, or their skin is too thin, or their pulp is too bland. Although Cavendishes need pampering, they are the only variety that provides farmers with a high yield of palatable fruit that can endure overseas trips without ripening too quickly or bruising too easily.
The Cavendish, which is rich in Vitamins B
6 and C, has high levels of potassium, magnesium, and fibre; it is also cheap—about sixty cents a pound. In 2008, Americans ate 7.6 billion pounds of Cavendish bananas,...
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