We will be following the life and journey of the Dole banana from farm to table.
Take this interactive tour of a typical Dole Food Company plantation: Dole Banana Farm Tour
Dole Food Company has massive farming operations in key parts of the world to keep up with such a high demand. The most successful plantations are in Central America because this area contains the most ideal growing conditions year round. In order to obtain the seeds to grow plants we get our bananas and other fruits from, only the “best parent plants from the whole plantation” are selected.2 These new seedlings are nurtured in a lab until they are ready to be planted out in the plantation. Dole has a massive reputation to live up to, so only the best of the best seedlings make it to the plantation. No company has become this successful by providing an inferior product. Dole Food Company boasts the fact that their crops are taken care of by hand throughout the crops’ entire lifetime. This requires lots of attention and labor. It may appear as though workers are subject to poor pay and working conditions due to the part of the world and Dole’s labor sourcing, but one source states that “Dole’s Costa Rican plantation workers are paid, on average, 46% above the national minimum wage of $10.31 a day.”4 This is clearly very cheap labor to our standards, but it shows that Dole Food Company is at least working to make its farmers/plantation workers comparably happy. Continue on to follow the banana plants once they reach maturity.