“The banana as we know it is on a crash course toward extinction. For scientists, the battle to resuscitate the world’s favorite fruit has begun—a race against time that just may be too late to win”

““A Banana,” says Juan Fernando Aguilar, “is not just a banana.” The bearded botanist and I are traipsing through one of the world’s most unusual banana plantations, moving down row after row of towering plants and ducking into the shade of broad leaves in an attempt to avoid the Central American midday heat. In an area about the size of a U.S. shopping mall, Aguilar, 46, is growing more than 300 banana varieties. Most commercial growing facilities handle just a single banana type—the one we Americans slice into our morning cereal.”

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