Transcript:
Americans are bananas for bananas.
People slice them into cereal, fry them with pancakes, and bake them into bread – making bananas one of the most popular fruits in the nation.
But a new study warns that climate change threatens the global banana industry.
Most bananas sold in the U.S. come from Latin American countries like Costa Rica and Colombia.
As the climate warms, these countries may no longer be optimal locations for growing the fruit.
Bebber: “Places like the tropics, which are already very, very hot, are becoming hotter.”
Dan Bebber, an ecologist at the University of Exeter in the U.K., co-authored the study.
He says adapting by moving the industry to other parts of Latin America may be difficult.
Growing bananas requires people to work on banana plantations, water to irrigate banana plants, and ports to ship bananas all over the world.
Bebber: “The regions that will be most suitable in terms of climate will actually be further away from ports, they may not be as well supplied with irrigation, and they may not have the people there to work in those regions. … these other factors are going to constrain the industry’s ability to adapt.”
So global warming could take a bite out of the banana industry.
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
