Banana - Post 4

When we visited the Chiquita banana plantation last week, they told us that it really was not possible to grow bananas in Costa Rica in an organic environment.  The reason being is that there are just way too many insects; I can attest to that.  If Costa Rican companies tried to grow organic bananas, I'm not certain that they would meet the strict guidelines and requirements that exist.  When we were at Chiquita, they showed us an example of a banana that did not meet specifications, and the example was honestly of a banana with one little brown marking.  From our visit, I knew that Chiquita did not currently produce organic bananas in Costa Rica, but I wanted to find out if other major banana companies did.  So, I went straight to the competition, Dole.  Dole's website about organic production is very impressive.   I immediately noticed that Dole does not produce organic bananas in Costa Rica either.  However, they have several farms in Peru, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, and Colombia; obviously all countries that have environments capable of supporting organic productions.  Dole states that its organic plantations are considered so because of the minimal off-farm inputs and a management system that restores and enhances the environment.  The fertilizers that are used are natural and actually help improve the soil.  Furthermore, in the 1980's, Dole integrated a  pest management system that naturally controls the amount of insects with minimal use of chemical products for crop production.  The website also noted that Dole is currently starting to produce pineapples in an organic matter.  Additionally, they noted that even though their practices are sustainable, they are constantly doing research to improve sustainable practices. 

Another feature on the website, is a program that allows consumers to enter the three digit farm code listed on the sticker of their banana and see the actual banana plantation in action.  For example, I used the code: 001, which is farm in Peru that has been sustainable since 2001 and received the following website detailing their operations:http://www.doleorganic.com/farms/001/001.html