The sticker of a banana is as ubiquitous as its under a dollar per lb. price, usually either Dole, Chiquita, or Del Monte are the most common brands in U.S. grocery stores. What the sticker itself advertises is an unprecedented history of worker exploitation, company tactics, and even political corruption. Since the beginning, the banana industry has depended on cheap labor and acquiring unlimited amounts of land, usually with foreign government cooperation/military force to keep costs low and make the greatest profit. We have come to rely on this expected, reliable banana price at the store when in reality it has undergone far costlier consequences since arriving there. How does a fruit imported from such faraway places retain its low price year round? Through early innovation efforts in shipping and creating a standard formula still used today, the banana companies ensured an affordable tropical fruit available all year to be enjoyed to your heart’s content. This food production wonder is achieved by working on an international level, having control over transportation and distribution, and dominating land and labor in foreign countries. In many of these poor countries that are the world’s largest producer of bananas, the conditions for workers are as primitive as when the company arrived to their lands. Watch this clip from the documentary “BANANAS” revealing the downside to maximizing profits at the expense of human livelihoods:
