GROW Bananas
A Staple in the Fruit Bowl
Ever since my kids first started eating solid foods, bananas have been a constant feature of our family fruit bowl. It doesn鈥檛 matter how many bunches I bring home. No matter what else is in season, the bananas still almost always get eaten. On the rare occasion that they get overripe, they go into banana bread or into the freezer for smoothies. I know from talking to plenty of other parents that our family isn鈥檛 unique. The statistics bear this out: on average, Americans eat 26 pounds of bananas per year, more than any other fresh fruit.
Banana Republics
While we eat a lot of bananas in the US, we don鈥檛 grow many, and that鈥檚 been true for over a century. That means the humble banana has been a major geopolitical player in the Americas for decades. Generally not in positive ways.
The term “banana republic” has its origins in real history. It refers to a politically unstable country with an authoritarian government. Often, these countries are economically dependent on a single export.
In the 20th century, companies like United Fruit Company (later Chiquita), Cuyamel Fruit Company, and allied interests in the US State Department and CIA overthrew democratically elected governments in Honduras and Guatemala. This led to decades of violence, instability, and suppression of labor movements.
Until the 1980s, workers on banana plantations were routinely exposed to the pesticide dibromochloropropane. This exposure led to elevated cancer risks, infertility, birth defects, and other effects.
The political and economic instability of these governments, banana monopolies, and wage suppression have had generational impacts. Arguably, they continue to contribute to high levels of emigration from Central America today.
GROW Bananas
Against this backdrop, GROW Bananas by Organics Unlimited are a remarkable departure from the banana鈥檚 rather ugly history in Latin America. Founded in 2005 by banana growers in Colima, Mexico, Organics Unlimited鈥檚 GROW program is a fair trade model that takes into account the key issues facing workers and their families. GROW (Giving Resources and Opportunities to Workers) allocates 60垄 from every case of bananas sold to the independent International Community Foundation to be used for:
- Education (82.5%)
- Health & Human Services (13.1%)
- Environmental Justice (3.3%)
- Disaster Relief (1.0%)
- Food Systems (0.1%)
The majority of these funds are allocated to education. This includes scholarships for early education, through college.
In addition to these social and economic impacts, GROW Bananas are, like all of the produce at LifeSource, organically grown, meaning that they expose neither workers nor consumers to chemical pesticides.
LifeSource鈥檚 Impact
60垄 per case, or roughly 1.5垄 per pound of bananas, may not sound like much, but remember that I, and perhaps you too, pretty much always have GROW Bananas sitting in my fruit bowl. Over time, and with thousands of LifeSource shoppers, those purchases add up.
I sent data about our purchases of GROW Bananas to Daniella Vel谩zquez de Le贸n, the general manager of Organics Unlimited and a fourth-generation banana grower. While LifeSource has been purchasing GROW Bananas for longer, our current records only go back to 2014. Nonetheless, in that time, our purchases have funded:
- Health services for 20 children and adolescents under the age of 12. Services through this nutrition program include examinations, pediatric and specialist consultations, and medicines, supplements, vitamins, and lab work.
- One-year junior high and high school scholarships for 11 students, including tuition and school fees, uniforms, supplies, transportation to and from school, one hot meal per day, homework club access, computer and internet access, and counseling & mentoring.
- One one-year university scholarship, enabling a first-generation college student to attend and complete a college education. The scholarship includes tuition and enrollment fees, textbooks and supplies, a laptop for coursework, transportation, and room and board at Casa Amiga. Casa Amiga provides a safe residence, three nutritious meals per day, computer access, counseling, and day-to-day support.
Dedicated fair trade brands like Organics Unlimited, Equal Exchange, Caf茅 Mam, Alaffia, and others are critical in transforming our food systems from exploitative models to ones based on meeting the needs of both workers and consumers.
To find out more about fair trade, visit https://fairworldproject.org/
Recipes we go bananas for!
Every bunch of GROW Bananas supports education, healthcare, and opportunity for farming families in Mexico. Here are a few delicious ways to enjoy one of our favorite fruits while making a positive impact.
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