Bananas

Banana farming dates back thousands of years, and evidence suggests that some places were producing bananas as early as 5,000 to 8,000 years ago. Bananas are cultivated in tropical and subtropical climates all over the world and are currently one of the most popular and commonly consumed fruits in the world.

Although they are 100+ countries that export bananas, Canada typically gets their supply from Central America. They are planted and then harvested in countries like Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and then get shipped out to us here in Canada. Then, bananas are sold to businesses and customers.

The power balance between the producer and the seller is that the producers set high standards for the producers by having a large demand for the product and have it at top quality making the sellers work harder and having the need of a bigger labour force. On the other hand, the producers dictate to who they sell and how much they sell of their product, in this case, bananas.

Something I would to improve the balance would recommend getting a representative for that specific country or company so that they could regulate fair business work. As I mentioned in my research paper, the World Trade Organization (WTO) did intervene in 1997 when they realized that the EU was breaking international trade rules and with their intervention, they helped multiple countries with conducting sales more fair and profitable. Nevertheless, It is still very difficult to keep everyone around the world in touch and make sure everyone is following the guidlines, therefore it would be best if countries and businesses got their own representative. The only issue is that most producer countries are considered 3rd world countries so for them, that means extra spending costs and not all countries are able to afford that.

WTO | dispute settlement – the disputes – DS27. (n.d.). https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/cases_e/ds27_e.htm

Peeling back the truth on Guatemalan bananas. (2010, July 29). COHA. https://coha.org/peeling-back-the-truth-on-the-guatemalan-banana-industry/#:~:text=For%20Guatemala%2C%20the%20banana%20trade,dependence%20on%20a%20single%20crop.&text=In%201954%2C%20the%20United%20States,which%20overthrew%20the%20%C3%81rbenz%20government.