A lack of diversity in crops is prone to disease and widespread mortality

Today, bananas are no longer as economically vital in Central America,and United Fruit Company, rechristened Chiquita,has lost its stranglehold on Latin American politics.But the modern banana industry isn’t without problems.Cavendish bananas require frequent applications of pesticides that create hazards for farmworkers and ecosystems.And though they’re resistant to the particular pathogen that affected Gros Michel bananas,Cavendish farms also lack biological diversity,leaving the banana trade ripe for another pandemic.