Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

Still, I think a 750 000 AUD grant for a finished project just to plant it in the field is way too much, isn't it? It was researched under another grant, wasn't it?

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

This will only make it easier for me to sell bananas.

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

If it's covering the pay of 12 scientists for a year on top of equipment, it's not a lot.

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

About 2 years ago, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Univ. (India) reported that in a 5-year study, sanitary propagation practices with tissue culture and good pest-management practices in the field had eliminated fungal infection problems in the participating farms. They weren't using heavy (organo-phosphate) pesticides either. All this without GMO strains.

This result rings true with Nicholas' statement that GMO can be a very lazy approach to crop management.

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

A good and true approach to growing anything. It's a known fact that healthy plants with as high brix will ward off most bugs and diseases. Correctly feeding and irrigatiing will make for a good harvest and a more tasteful one. We use as much organic as we can and our plants produce goods tasting and abundant crops. Organics isn't for everyone but many would benifit by using it. In the long run it is less expensive also.

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

It depends what you mean by high brix. The traditional meaning is concentration of certain carbohydrates and glutens present in plant material.

I agree with that :)

When comparing equal weights of nutrients present in fertilizers, "organic" is by far the most expensive way to feed plants. For example, compare the wholesale prices of $1 per pound for a 5-1-1 plant meal vs. $1 per pound 20-5-5 inorganic mineral mix. The net cost of the plant meal is $20 / lb of nitrogen, whereas the inorganic mineral mix is $5 / lb of nitrogen. Also, the inorganic mix has a balanced selection of major, secondary, and micronutrients but the plant meal alone does not.

If you want to garden "organically" at home, great! I'm slowly writing a thread on balanced nutrition for tomatoes via organic methods here: http://www.bananas.org/f8/towards-op...tml#post185799

Several studies from Cornell, UMW, etc. over the last 3 decades have shown that given the population of the world, feeding agricultural crops with organic material derived from plants is not sustainable. The crop land that would be used to generate that material is needed for human food. Further, crop by-products such as cottonseed and alfalfa will find their way into foods instead of being used as feed. These studies also point out that for the same reason, grain-fed livestock is unsustainable.

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

Isn't the fundamental problem that if you want that cheap banana you can now buy in every grocery store, crop management MUST be lazy? If you can't plant big monocultured fields, you can't put a cheap banana on the shelves of the supermarket in Iowa or Ireland. Unless these consumers are willing to pay more for that exotic, tropical fruit, grown thousands of miles away from their supermarket, GMO bananas will be pretty appealing to the big banana growing syndicates.

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

I actually think that this is a good idea, and I actually thought a little about the subject itself. This would mean that ANY variety could be resistant to diseases such as Panama Disease and BBTV. Who knows, maybe in a few years we'll see the varieties such as Ice Cream, Mysore, and Namwah popping up in grocery stores?

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

We have several disease resistant varieties that could be planted. They could easily plant FHIA-2, FHIA-17, and FHIA-23. I sold 30 lbs of Goldfinger fruit in 2 hours at the market last week. People loved it. I just don't buy the transnationals answer that people only want a cavendish. I think the whole system is set to deliver Cavendish, but the system could be tweaked over the next decade to start delivering the FHIA varieties.

Re: Genetically modified plants hold the key to saving the banana industry
 

Nick, thanks for your input as a banana grower and seller. Personally, I completely agree with you that the transnationals (the "syndicate") are being short sighted on this. I think consumers would readily accept many of the disease resistant FHIA varieties. But each of these disease-resistant variety has different characteristics than Cavendish, which would make them have to change their production and delivery models. And they won't do that until they are forced to by disease or the market because it would reduce their profits. And even if they are forced by disease to switch cultivars, they still will use lazy production methods of huge monocultures, because that's how they maximize profit. If those assumptions about the multinationals are correct, I think it's more likely well see GM bananas on the grocery store shelves before we see FHIA varieties (or other traditionally bred varieties). From my perspective, if that opens up the market to guys like you who aren't growing GM bananas, that'll be great. (Not that I have strong negative feelings about GMOs. As a biologist, I know that I'm surrounded by GMOs every day on campus, in our labs.)