Our standard supermarket banana, a variety called Cavendish, may
be at the brink of disaster. Chosen for its resistance to a
fungal pathogen that wiped out its predecessor, the Gros Michel
banana, the popular fruit has long battled a related fungus,
which has all but devastated the banana industry in certain
parts of the world. Now, it appears the Cavendish variety is
facing a new threat—the very same fungal disease that drove Gros
Michels off the market. Cavendish bananas account for about 45
percent of the fruit's global crop, with an annual export value
of US$8.5 billion, according to the United Nations Food and
Agriculture Organization. It was chosen to replace the original
Gros Michel banana after a deadly fungal infection, known as
Panama disease (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. Cubense), wiped out
much of the world’s banana crop in the first half of the 20th
century. Farmers adopted the Cavendish variety because it
appeared to resist the blight, as well as about a dozen other
banana diseases that also threat