Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
tanttotheirshoesandtools.
82
Ironically,oneofthebiggestproblemsfaced
by growers was how to eliminate infected banana plants eciently. The
labor-intensive process included digging out rhizomes and roots, chop-
pingtheplantsintosmallpieces,andburningthemwithlargequantitiesof
fuel.
83
In spite of these measures, the companies had a di
cult time ensur-
ing that their workers did not unknowingly introduce infected planting
materials to new farms. Little could be done during the rainy season to
prevent flood waters from spreading the pathogen far and wide.
In1916,UnitedFruithiredSamuelPrescott,aresearcherattheMassa-
chusetts Institute of Technology, to direct a soil survey of company farms
in Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, and Jamaica in order to
determine the relationship between disease incidence and soil conditions.
Two years later, Prescott reported that his research did not identify any
''strikingly marked correlations'' between the chemical properties of soils
and the spread of the pathogen.
84
Prescott and other United Fruit employ-
ees tested a slew of chemical compounds and soil treatments (including
mulching and fertilizing) for their ability to ''disinfect'' soils, but these
efforts were in vain.
85
In 1923, United Fruit scientist John Johnston noted
thatsometwentyyearsofstudyandtreatment''byallthecustomarymeth-
odsusedinthepracticeofdiseasecontrol''hadfailedtoyieldasolutionto
the problem of Panama disease.
86
Stymiedintheirinitialeffortstoeradi-
cate and/or prevent the spread of the pathogen, both the United Fruit
Company and the British colonial government created formal research
programs with the intent of overcoming Panama disease.
As early as 1910—well before the scientific community agreed that
F. oxysporum was the pathogen—a U.S. Department of Agriculture re-
searcher argued that the long-term solution to Panama disease lay in cul-
tivating a disease-resistant variety such as the ''Chinese banana'' (i.e., a
Cavendish cultivar), that was traded in Asia, Hawaii, and the Canary
Islands.
87
In1910UnitedFruitprovidedtheDutchgovernmentinSurinam
withabananavarietyknownas''Congo''(aCavendishcultivar).However,
only modest amounts of Congo fruit reached U.S. markets before United
Fruit informed Dutch o
cials that the variety was not marketable due
to its comparatively short shelf life and its tendency to ripen unevenly.
88
Both United Fruit and British researchers initiated breeding programs
during the 1920s with the shared goal of developing disease-resistant vari-
eties.
89
United Fruit researchers initially tried to breed healthy-looking
Gros Michel plants found in diseased soils, but even apparent survivors of
the epidemic eventually succumbed to the pathogen. The company next
sought to create a hybrid variety with disease resistance. The first genera-
