
The Cavendish banana is facing extinction - Jaruzel
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/cavendish-banana-extinction-gene-editing
======
Brockenstein
The banana dying is my favorite trope. It's true, but it's been dying for a
long time and we've known it's been in trouble for a long time. What with all
plants being clones, no genetic diversity and having to jump from one variety
to the next every time a disease or fungus gets the current variety's number.

Cavendish, like Gros Michel before it is definitely doomed. Maybe we can mix
and match for a few more generations. Maybe GMO bananas will be the only
answer. In which case anti-GMO people will have to decide which they like
more, bananas or fear mongering.

Or maybe if we're doing gene editing, we can bring the Gros Michel back, you
know, since Cavendish was thought of as a second rate banana.

~~~
acheron
_Maybe GMO bananas will be the only answer. In which case anti-GMO people will
have to decide which they like more, bananas or fear mongering._

The anti-science activists are also working to kill off the orange as well.
[https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140914-flor...](https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140914-florida-
orange-citrus-greening-gmo-environment-science/)

------
petard
Every now and then a article pops-up claiming bananas are dead, a break-
through in battery capacity or some new revolutionary storage technology.

~~~
bioinformatics
Don’t forget some miracle cure of cancer, peak oil and blood diamonds.

------
asaph
Why do bad things happen to good fruit? I wish something would wipe out the
red delicious apple.

~~~
Grazester
Seems like we share the same sentiment where the red delicious is concerned.

~~~
asaph
Good news!

> The Red Delicious is no longer the dominant apple in American orchards, the
> U.S. Apple Association said last week, after lasting five decades in the top
> spot. The Gala apple is now first;[0]

[0] [https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/red-delicious-
apple...](https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/red-delicious-apples-suck-
so-good-thing-theyre-no-longer-the-most-produced-in-american-orchards.html)

~~~
lotsofpulp
Honeycrisp is where it's at!

~~~
zonged
Check out Sweet Tangos if you have the chance, they are an improved
Honeycrisp.

~~~
jmckib
Juici is another amazing apple with Honeycrisp parentage, though I can barely
ever find them. I believe they come out of Washington state.

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jimijazz
It makes sense to me, that a static species can not survive a changing
environment. I believe we need to learn not to depend on monocultures and
foster local production/consumption of food.

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aetherson
I first saw all these same claims 15 years ago.

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394549
Are there still any places you can get Gros Michel bananas? I've heard they
still survive in a few places, and I've always wanted to try one.

~~~
tlholaday
From the linked article:

“Having given up on finding the Gros Michel in the wild, I’ve ordered it in
from the Miami Fruit Company in South Florida, a tropical fruit grower with so
many different bananas they’ll ship you an entire sampler of different
varieties.”

------
craftyguy
The western 'standard' banana is 'dying' but there are many great varieties
that seem to be doing well in SE Asia (for example)

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dang
There have been surprisingly many banana extinction stories on HN, though you
have to pick them out from the other banana stories:

[https://hn.algolia.com/?query=banana%20points%3E10&sort=byDa...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=banana%20points%3E10&sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=story&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0)

------
mbfg
The cavendish isn't really that good of a banana, among all the banana
species, so no one should shed a tear if it's supplanted with a different
species.

Blue Java Bananas are yummy. (altho probably not destined to be the
replacement).

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deadmetheny
This is clickbait. Bananas as a species are doing just fine, it's the
Cavendish cultivar that is in danger due to being a monoculture, just like the
Gros Michel was when most of its groves got wiped out. Some other SE Asian
banana will just end up taking its place if and when the Cavendish gets taken
out as a result of monoculture, and quite frankly many of those varieties are
vastly superior to the Cavendish anyway.

~~~
xapata
If they're superior, why haven't they already replaced the Cavendish?

~~~
deadmetheny
They were widely adopted after the Gros Michel fell to Panama disease due to
their perceived resistance to the disease and the fact that they travel and
keep very well compared to other cultivars. A lot of consumers don't even know
that other banana cultivars even exist.

~~~
xapata
But the growers know and the retailers know. If they thought a change would be
profitable, they would have. It's likely that the disappearance of the
Cavendish will be very disruptive .

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Nursie
"The banana"

It annoys me, probably more than is rational, when I see that. There are lots
of types of banana, it's just that we in the west usually only get 1 or 2,
because that's what gets cultivated in huge quantities, and is easiest to
ship.

On my travels, and sometimes just from a more internationally focused store
than a typical supermarket, I've had apple bananas, lady fingers, Fe'i and
various types of plantain. I'd love to try ice-cream bananas, red daccas and
all the rest.

But what we get is just more Cavendish... and these meme-like articles that
crop up several times a year.

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b_tterc_p
Potentially dumb question: are plantains ok?

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dreen
Damn... give me the GMO bananas please and I'll eat NOTHING ELSE for a month
just to prove a point.

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j0hnM1st
Misleading title! Looks like a push to spread GM foods as opposed to any
relevant issue. As someone who cultivates banana for real, TR4 is not an issue
in Asian countries like the article says.

