Agriculture Reference
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natives and under U.S State Department pressure to strike a trucewith his
rival, Zemurray traveled to Boston in 1929 in order to negotiate a settle-
ment. United Fruit eventually agreed to purchase the assets of the Cuya-
mel Fruit Company from Zemurray for 300,000 shares of United Fruit
stock.United Fruit acquired nearly 22,000 hectares of land planted in ba-
nanas,sugarcane,andcoconuts;23,000hectaresofforestandwetlands;13
steamships;andcontroloveranadditional13percentoftheU.S.market. 148
Zemurray, now holding United Fruit stock worth $32 million, retired to
his family estate near New Orleans. 149
BoththeboundarydisputebetweenHondurasandGuatemalaandthe
rivalry between United Fruit and Cuyamel Fruit predated the appearance
of Panama disease in Honduras. However, the fruit companies' response
to the epidemic—shifting plantation agriculture—led to repeating cycles
of invadingpeople,plants,andpathogensthatheightenedtheimportance
of soil and water resources on the North Coast. Indeed, the fruit com-
panies faced repeated challenges to their grip on the region's resources
from squatters, workers, and local government ocials who struggled to
maintain (and reinvent) livelihoods in altered landscapes.
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