Tomoka
Who Decides What Fruit we Eat?
Your banana, your pink-pineapple, and your year-round mango: none of these fruits are accidental. The fruits we see in the supermarkets are a result of scientific innovation, global trade networks, and farming strategies. My research asks: How have genetic modification and the globalization of fruit reshaped agricultural systems, cultural meaning, and consumer perception, and what does this reveal about the complex relationship between science, markets, and society? Through studying case studies of the banana industry’s shift from Gros Michel to Cavendish, GMO experiments using rats, and research on the globalization of the fresh fruit and vegetable system, I found that fruits become global not simply because they taste good, but because they can survive systems of industrial transport, corporate standardization, and consumer expectation. Through debunking many misconceptions about GMOs, I’ve learned that biotechnology offers the potential to improve shelf life, disease resistance, and climate resilience. At the same time, GMOs raise ethical questions about power in the global fruit market: does innovation strengthen food security, or does it serve branding and profit? Fruit is not just grown, but is shaped by science, markets, and culture, and those forces determine which fruits become everyday staples and which remain “exotic”.
WATCH HERE
Back
Your banana, your pink-pineapple, and your year-round mango: none of these fruits are accidental. The fruits we see in the supermarkets are a result of scientific innovation, global trade networks, and farming strategies. My research asks: How have genetic modification and the globalization of fruit reshaped agricultural systems, cultural meaning, and consumer perception, and what does this reveal about the complex relationship between science, markets, and society? Through studying case studies of the banana industry’s shift from Gros Michel to Cavendish, GMO experiments using rats, and research on the globalization of the fresh fruit and vegetable system, I found that fruits become global not simply because they taste good, but because they can survive systems of industrial transport, corporate standardization, and consumer expectation. Through debunking many misconceptions about GMOs, I’ve learned that biotechnology offers the potential to improve shelf life, disease resistance, and climate resilience. At the same time, GMOs raise ethical questions about power in the global fruit market: does innovation strengthen food security, or does it serve branding and profit? Fruit is not just grown, but is shaped by science, markets, and culture, and those forces determine which fruits become everyday staples and which remain “exotic”.
WATCH HERE
More About Thacher
Interested in learning more about Thacher? Sign up for a virtual visit here.
A college preparatory boarding school for grades 9-12
Thacher is committed to maintaining an atmosphere of respect and dignity free from harassment. Our school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national, and ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, or any other characteristics protected by state or federal law in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, tuition assistance, and athletic and other school-administered programs, or any other basis in law.