did you know that the cavendish banana, the type of banana most common here in the united states, may soon go extinct? there is a disease among banana trees that apparently spreads so rapidly and completely that it can wipe out entire species of bananas once it begins to effect them. the fact that banana trees are reproduced asexually and therefore genetically identical doesnt help the matter any. once one gets susceptible, they all go down. this has happened before, apparently before the 1950s the most common banana was a variety known as the "big mike", which was bigger and tastier by all accounts than the cavendish, but was wiped out by this disease. the cavendish replaced the big mike because it was resistant to the disease. but recently the disease has mutated in malaysia and started to infect cavendish trees. scientist believe the whole canvendish population could be destroyed in just a few years, and are currently racing to produce a new variety of bananas that is resistant to the disease to replace the cavendish when this happens. i read that in a newspaper somewhere.
In fact, I did know that, though not all the details. A few years ago a farmer friend of Elizabeth's told us about this problem, as she had recently been to a farming conference in Columbus and had learned all about it.Man, I wish I could get a taste of a Big Mike.
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