Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Correspondence sent from Boston Fruit Company executive Andrew
Preston to his buying agents in Jamaica during the 1890s reveals a height-
ened interest in defining and standardizing fruit quality. In an 1891 letter
the Boston-based Preston hammered away at the theme of fruit quality:
''The time is past when importers can make a profit on thin and ordinary
fruit...andItrustourJamaicapeoplewillkeepitinmindatalltimes.''
99
One year later, Preston acknowledged that his emphasis on quality was
causingtensionwithinthecompany,butherefusedtolowerhisstandards:
I presume your people [in Jamaica] think we are disposed to criticize
your selections but we are driven to it by the power of competition—
naturally our best customers want the best fruit and I assure you we
find it dicult to hold them with fruit of poorer quality than our
competitors offer them. It is very plain to my mind that the successful
company of the future is the one that controls the growing of its
own fruit.
100
Byintegratingproduction,shipping,andmarketing,Prestonbelievedthat
a company could better control both the quantity and quality of the fruit
reaching U.S. markets and thereby lower the financial risks associated
with trading a highly perishable agricultural commodity. In 1899, Preston
played a central role in turning his vision into reality by helping to form
theUnitedFruitCompany.Forthenextsixtyyears,thefortunesofUnited
Fruit would be entwined with Gros Michel—the variety around which
late-nineteenth-century consumer markets formed their notions about
just what constituted a ''banana.''
