Greetings, and welcome to another busy week! We hope you’ll stop by Pathfinder Produce at the Village Commons this Thursday from noon to 5 p.m. to get the freshest produce around. We now have a wonderful selection of Pathfinder’s hoop house produce – fresh greens, herbs, onions, tomatoes, and more. It just doesn’t get any fresher!
We are rounding out summer at the Village with the final two concerts of another memorable music season at the Pavilion, August 24 & 31 at 7 p.m. Come and enjoy these last few summer flings that will feature the music of Atomic Rewind, a new band to our concert series, and Dirt Road Express, one of our very favorite country bands.
Our thanks go to our Summer Concert series partners at the Chenango County Arts Council. The Summer Concert Series is a Decentralization Program. These programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, which is administered by the Chenango County Council of the Arts, with support from Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. The series is also made possible with funds from private donors, Stewart’s Shops Holiday Match Program, and WGY’s Christmas Wish.
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Lately, I’ve been trying to eat more bananas to get a healthy daily dose of beneficial dietary fiber and minerals. But while listening to my local NPR station recently, I heard some disturbing news on Science Friday about this tasty tropical treat that is the world’s fourth most valuable crop.
It seems there is a fungus, Fusarium or Panama Disease, that is now attacking the world’s crop, and it has migrated from Asian plantations to those in Africa, Australia, South- and Central America. While this may not be cataclysmic and quarantine measures are being taken, the fungus is insidious. It is transferred easily and there are no known treatments to kill the fungus which chokes the plants’ vascular systems. Spores can live in the soil of infected farms for decades.
This is not the first time that the banana crop has been decimated by Fusarium: In the 1950s, banana producers exclusively shipped one type, the Gros Michel (Big Mike) banana, to U.S. and European markets. Another strain of the fungus, the TR1, effectively eradicated that crop. Growers then switched over to the more resistant Cavendish banana, which is what most of us now think of when we say “banana.” You can learn more about the remarkable history of bananas through a National Geographic video at this link.)
The new strain of the fungus, TR4, attacks the Cavendish and most other varieties; its dangers were known as far back as 1985 when it showed up in Southeastern Asia. Horticulturalists in Central America are now trying to develop resistant strains and use genetic modifications to beat back the infection. But it’s an uphill task, and the industry has been slow to act.
Author Dan Koeppel writes in his 2008 op-ed piece, “In recent years, American consumers have begun seeing the benefits — to health, to the economy, and to the environment — of buying foods that are grown close to our homes. Getting used to life without bananas will take some adjustment…. But bananas have always been an emblem of a long-distance food chain. Perhaps it’s time we recognize bananas for what they are: an exotic fruit that, someday soon, may slip beyond our reach.”
I really hope it won’t come to that, but I also hope that agribusinesses take this lesson about monocultures and bananas to heart for all farm products.
Until next time, celebrate bio-diversity and “go local.”
Lori
