The death of the Banana??

[Meowmie]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...gus-decimates-global-banana-crop-9239464.html

I am horrified. Bananas are such a vital crop and one of the few fruits I can actually eat. I hope that they find a solution to this that does NOT involve GMO. To me if GMO's are involved, the banana would still be gone.

I will not eat GMO's.

I had planned to have a banana tree in my yard when I move to Belize. This is very sad news and I pray there is a solution. Can't imagine the world without bananas.

 

[Chuck]

I went to the grocery store yesterday for the first time in a month. Bananas had doubled in price. As far as GMO's go we may as well get used used to the idea because as we all know politicians and the government are the most intelligent smartest people in the world and know what is best for the earth, us, the climate and everything that hasn't even been dreamed of yet.

 

[Trellum]

Something similar is happening with the green lime over here, a very nasty plague is destroying crops. That's why the price of green limes have increased over here. We had to start buying the yellow variety, I must say we now love the yellow variety and couldn't care less about the green variety.

Sad to hear about bananas, I might stop eating bananas if they turn into GMO's, It's already hard the way it is... I mean, not to scare you guys, but our average cancer developing risk is high enough with the world the way it is... so adding more to that would be nuts!

 

[Lostvalleyguy]

This has been an issue for quite some time. The problem is that all of our Banana plants are effectively the exact same as they are "cloned" or more accurately grown from the same samples. This is probable to first wide scale failure of human tampering with a gene pool. GMOs are potentially susceptible to the same issue as nature will likely create diseases to match the human created resistant strains of new plants.

Fear not, the big yellow bananas may become a thing of the past, but there will be other types available. This disease is attacking primarily the human banana plantations as all the plants are identical and the disease prefers to attack that plant. Naturally genetically diverse trees have a greater resistance to this issue but tend to produce fewer and smaller bananas.

 

[lemonzest]

I had heard about the clone issue but didn't realize how bad it had gotten. There's a similar problem threatening the principal wheat variety, IIRC.

This is a very good reason to remember how even our simple veggie shopping habits have an effect. Whenever you can, try to diversify your purchases even within the same veggies, if we don't buy it then there's no reason for anyone to grow it.

 

[Chuck]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...gus-decimates-global-banana-crop-9239464.html

I am horrified. Bananas are such a vital crop and one of the few fruits I can actually eat. I hope that they find a solution to this that does NOT involve GMO. To me if GMO's are involved, the banana would still be gone.

I will not eat GMO's.

I had planned to have a banana tree in my yard when I move to Belize. This is very sad news and I pray there is a solution. Can't imagine the world without bananas.

I believe that this entire GMO project is going to turn out to be full of unintended consequences with disasterous results.

 

[firelily99]

They don't want the banana crop to crash so hopefully they - politicians - will come to their senses. Bananas are one of the most widely eaten fruits in the world.

 

[claudine]

I wish there was more research on Genetically Modified Organisms. I feel that we don't know as much about them as we should. There's just not enough information.
As for bananas, I've never really liked them, so I don't eat them anyway. I'd much rather eat a yummy tomato or a sweet apple from my garden

 

[ACSAPA]

This sucks. I love bananas. As a thrifty person, I also appreciated that they were cheap and plentiful. I'm horrified that they might double and triple in price and I won't be able to buy them anymore. Meanwhile cauliflower lives to suck another day.

 

[sweetkymom]

I so hope our wonderful bananas don't go anywhere! I eat quite a bit of these as its s fruit that helps people with low potassium. I'm not all education on GMO but I do agree, there's not enough information for us to learn on. If the price doubles and/or triplesz, I may have to find another replacement.

 

[Meowmie]

There is more than enough research on GMO's to know how dangerous they are. Lab animals fed GMO foods can't reproduce past the third generation, cancer tumor growing like crazy.

I will NOT get used to GMO I WILL find ways to eat non GMO food.

The worst words ever are "we're the government and we're here to help" What would they do? Give money to Monsanto so Monsanto can destroy the banana for those of us that know enough not to eat GMO foods? Then Monsanto can sell more chemicals and use the money they get to line the politicians pockets.

I have started buying dehydrated bananas. I'm stocking up on them and at least will be able to make banana smoothies and banana bread.

 

[Chuck]

There is more than enough research on GMO's to know how dangerous they are. Lab animals fed GMO foods can't reproduce past the third generation, cancer tumor growing like crazy.

I will NOT get used to GMO I WILL find ways to eat non GMO food.

The worst words ever are "we're the government and we're here to help" What would they do? Give money to Monsanto so Monsanto can destroy the banana for those of us that know enough not to eat GMO foods? Then Monsanto can sell more chemicals and use the money they get to line the politicians pockets.

I have started buying dehydrated bananas. I'm stocking up on them and at least will be able to make banana smoothies and banana bread.

All is not lost, yet. In deep South Texas (the valley) the short variety (4") of bananas are easily grown and they taste just as good or better as the regular Dole or Chaquita bananas. Hopefully the government will not be bought off and these bananas will be on the market soon if worse comes to worse.

 

[lemonzest]

That's good to hear. I think the trend to oversize fruits and veggies is part of the problem. People feel like they're getting a better value or something with a huge banana or strawberry, even if the flavor isn't there.

Smaller bananas are actually much more convenient, especially since most places sell by the pound anyway. I usually have to half most bananas for my ceral or sandwiches or whatever because they're just ridiculous otherwise.

 

[ACSAPA]

I've noticed that the bananas at Walmart are still the same price. I wonder how long it'll take before they go up in price.
Do you guys freeze bananas to use in cooking? I've heard that people freeze them but I haven't tried it.

 

[Meowmie]

I like the idea of bananas being smaller. They are getting so big, it's like having 2 servings in one skin. I hope these littler ones aren't bothered by the fungus.

I have started buying freeze dried banana slices so if prices get way too high I can still make banana bread.

And I picked up zucchini seeds. If I can't have banana bread I'll settle for zucchini.