Bananas, coffee and tariffs...

[seminoleed]

A banana tree typically takes around 15 to 18 months after planting to produce its first fruit, and then the plant dies after fruiting, with new plants sprouting from the same roots.

Mrs. Ed planted one in the garden she started early last year, and the first bunches are already starting to show themselves. According to our neighbors, these grow as relatively small bananas; we shall see.

 

[lucas80]

In before @lucas80 asserts that no one will be able to pick the bananas because the current president is enforcing immigration laws.

Goodness, you seem emotionally fragile this morning. Like a little hot house flower you are.
Do you have a link to who is going to pick the bananas at the great banana plantations? You? How much are they going to cost?

 

[prlyles]

Saw a lot of talk about bananas and coffee in one of the tariffs thread, and I thought this is a perfect example of WHY we might want tariffs, without junking up the already junked-up other thread.

But to be clear: We are perfectly capable of producing our own coffee and bananas!

Absolutely wonderful coffee is grown in Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Bananas can also be grown on those islands, and also in very southern regions of the continental U.S. too.

But anyone interested in growing American coffee or bananas can't compete against foreign growers unless there is a tariff to balance things out, and give domestic producers a fair playing field.

So, the small production we have of these crops generally goes to local farmer's markets or specialty retailers, and is not scaled for mass production. Growers tend to be small operations, and focused on niche varieties of beans and fruits in order to charge enough to survive.

What if we HAD to grow our own coffee and bananas due to some sort of war or natural disaster? We don't have the means to satisfy the nation's demand for these staples of American life today, but that could easily be changed if we had the will to do it.

Discuss.

If we could compete with the rest of the world we would already be producing those two items.

 

[The Tradition]

Mrs. Ed planted one in the garden she started early last year, and the first bunches are already starting to show themselves. According to our neighbors, these grow as relatively small bananas; we shall see.

There are hundreds of banana varieties. They're not all cavendish. The smaller ones you have are likely sweeter than you're used to.

 

[seminoleed]

There are hundreds of banana varieties. They're not all cavendish. The smaller ones you have are likely sweeter than you're used to.

We'll see. Frankly, I don't see being sweeter as a problem.

 

[artradley]

Struggling to figure out why we would want to grow bananas and coffee here. Is the goal of every country to not import anything? Did OP ever take an economics class?

This feels like a tortured attempt to excuse Trump’s stupidity.

 

[ThorneStockton]

It's just amazing what Trump has done to his followers and what they have allowed to happen to themselves. Trad was a libertarian - perhaps he never understood what that meant - but he knew public government = bad, private corporations = good.

Now he's advocating for government imposed tariffs and pondering what 'we' should be growing as if he thinks it's 'our' collective land and that agriculture should be centrally planned by the federal government or perhaps the Party.

It's hard not to pity these people, yet their multitude of weaknesses and vulnerabilities are what have us in this MAGA mess in the first place.

 

[Kelsers]

Struggling to figure out why we would want to grow bananas and coffee here. Is the goal of every country to not import anything? Did OP ever take an economics class?

This feels like a tortured attempt to excuse Trump’s stupidity.

They're two peas in a pod!

 

[HawCory]

Kwik Star grows their own bananas. In Wisconsin. I bought 8 pounds the other day for $0.29 per pound.

 

[artradley]

Kwik Star grows their own bananas. In Wisconsin. I bought 8 pounds the other day for $0.29 per pound.

I do not believe that is true.

 

[HawCory]

I do not believe that is true.

You can believe whatever you want, but that doesn't make you right.
They grow them indoors. A quick Google search(they are called Kwik Trip in Wisconsin) will get you several results.

 

[artradley]

You can believe whatever you want, but that doesn't make you right.
They grow them indoors. A quick Google search(they are called Kwik Trip in Wisconsin) will get you several results.

My results:

No, Kwik Trip does not grow its own bananas; they source them from South American countries like Guatemala and Colombia, shipping them to Texas before trucking them to La Crosse for ripening.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

• Sourcing:
  Kwik Trip's banana supply originates in South American countries like Guatemala and Colombia.
  
  
• Transportation:
  The bananas are shipped to Texas and then trucked to La Crosse, Wisconsin.
  
  
• Ripening:
  Kwik Trip has its own banana-ripening facility, where the bananas spend days in ripening chambers with tropical conditions.
  
  
• Distribution:
  Kwik Trip has a distribution center that ships 80,000 pounds of bananas to its convenience stores each day.
  
  
• Vertical Integration:
  Kwik Trip does have a commissary at its 141-acre campus that supplies a majority of Kwik Trip's products at its company-owned stores, but bananas are not grown there.

Also:

SNEAK PEEK: Inside Kwik Trip's Banana Ripening Room

Located in La Crosse, Kwik Trip's headquarters produces a variety of items like bread, donuts, cookies, and sandwiches, and ships a new batch of products to each Kwik Trip store every day. They also have a huge space dedicated to bananas.

kroc.com

 

[The Tradition]

Now he's advocating for government imposed tariffs and pondering what 'we' should be growing as if he thinks it's 'our' collective land and that agriculture should be centrally planned by the federal government or perhaps the Party.

What you just described is what happened in Puerto Rico. They used to grow much more coffee there, but the government wanted production shifted to sugar.

Coffee production in Puerto Rico - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[NorthEndzoneCrew]

FINALLY!!! Someone has the guts to do what needs to be done and get AMERICAN bananas ripe again!!

Thank god for Trump! Americans have become addicted to cheap, fake goods….and now we are curing the disease and making the country great again. Sure you will pay a lot more, but every Banana will be AMERICAN made Patriot Peels!!

Frankly all of this will help our health problem as well. Americans will become more discrete and responsible with their nutrition budgets.

MAGA!!

 

[ThorneStockton]

What you just described is what happened in Puerto Rico. They used to grow much more coffee there, but the government wanted production shifted to sugar.

Coffee production in Puerto Rico - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

And now you want the US federal government to interfere with private enterprise and capital resource allocation for the purposes of increasing domestic banana and coffee production. Fvck that, I'd rather have cheap bananas and coffee and let private US agriculture produce within their comparative advantages.


Repeat: You're not a libertarian, you probably never were. You're a cult follower. The leader is Trump, before that it was probably Ron Paul and before that Reagan.

 

[Kelsers]

You can believe whatever you want, but that doesn't make you right.
They grow them indoors. A quick Google search(they are called Kwik Trip in Wisconsin) will get you several results.

Ummmm, they're ripened in Wisconsin not grown.

 

[HawCory]

My results:

No, Kwik Trip does not grow its own bananas; they source them from South American countries like Guatemala and Colombia, shipping them to Texas before trucking them to La Crosse for ripening.

Here's a more detailed explanation:

• Sourcing:
  Kwik Trip's banana supply originates in South American countries like Guatemala and Colombia.
  
  
• Transportation:
  The bananas are shipped to Texas and then trucked to La Crosse, Wisconsin.
  
  
• Ripening:
  Kwik Trip has its own banana-ripening facility, where the bananas spend days in ripening chambers with tropical conditions.
  
  
• Distribution:
  Kwik Trip has a distribution center that ships 80,000 pounds of bananas to its convenience stores each day.
  
  
• Vertical Integration:
  Kwik Trip does have a commissary at its 141-acre campus that supplies a majority of Kwik Trip's products at its company-owned stores, but bananas are not grown there.

Also:

SNEAK PEEK: Inside Kwik Trip's Banana Ripening Room

Located in La Crosse, Kwik Trip's headquarters produces a variety of items like bread, donuts, cookies, and sandwiches, and ships a new batch of products to each Kwik Trip store every day. They also have a huge space dedicated to bananas.

kroc.com

I stand corrected. One of the local store managers has been to what they called the "grow house" and is under the impression that they actually grow them there.

 

[artradley]

I stand corrected. One of the local store managers has been to what they called the "grow house" and is under the impression that they actually grow them there.

It is a crazy operation. And 80,000lbs a day is staggering.

 

[HawCory]

It is a crazy operation. And 80,000lbs a day is staggering.

We almost always have them in our house. We usually buy the greenest ones we can find before the old bunch is gone.

We don't usually buy 8 pounds though. That was only because it was our week to supply fruit for my son's sled hockey team.