Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
in the final analysis, are the ones who have the say as to what fruit they
desire, and inasmuch as the meat of the Lacatan, even though the skin
may be yellow, is not really mellow and not as digestible as the Gros
Michel, unless the skin of the former has practically turned black; and
in this condition the fruit is uninviting to the eye and hard to sell.
There is a question of whether or not we are serving the business
properly in trying to force them on the market. This week we are going
to have about 2,960 stems of Lacatans and it is my intention to hold
the unsold cars here, and have Mr. Rowe's men visit the jobbers who
made f.o.b [free on board] purchases, for the purpose of educating
them in handling and ripening of the fruit and assisting in every
manner possible.
114
TheWeeklyMarketReport'sdescriptionofLacatanfruitcontradictsmuch
ofChittenden'sratherenthusiasticdescriptionofthevariety.Lacatan'sfla-
vor and ripening behavior were noticeably different from those of Gros
Michel. The statement about ''forcing'' the variety on the market indi-
cates that buyers were rather reluctant to purchase Lacatan bananas when
decent Gros Michel fruit was available for a comparable price.
Cuyamel Fruit and Standard Fruit also tried to market Lacatan ba-
nanas on a trial basis during the 1920s. Buyers complained that the fruit
did not ripen in a satisfactory manner. In addition, the variety was sus-
ceptible to a fungal rot that weakened the stem from which jobbers and
retailersusuallysuspendedbananasforripeninganddisplaypurposes.Al-
though experiments indicated that Lacatan's ripening qualities improved
upon exposing the fruit to ethylene gas, jobbers resisted buying a variety
that required significant alterations to their routine ripening procedures.
Both companies reported that Lacatan sales dropped when Gros Michel
fruit was available.
115
The findings of a 1929 marketing survey commissioned by United
Fruit shed additional light on how market structures and aesthetic sen-
sibilities worked to impede the introduction of new varieties. The survey
targetedwomenontheassumptionthat''thehousewifeistheauthorityon
the buying and serving habits of the family.''
116
The women interviewed
were usually at a loss to explain what ''impulse'' led them to buy bananas:
roughly one-third stated that it was a ''matter of habit''; about one-sixth
credited an ''attractive display.'' Questions directed toward consumers
aboutfruitqualitywerelimitedtosizeandripeningstage;noquerieswere
made in regard to flavor, texture, or preferred way to eat the fruit. More
thanhalfoftheintervieweespreferredtobuy''yellowripe''bananas;about
