Fair Trade Bananas Make HUDS Debut

Like the pre-exam complexion of many a stressed-out student, today’s selection of bananas in the dining halls might not glow as brightly as usual. Though the bananas can’t blame the Core Curriculum, their less-than-golden appearance is also work-related.

Starting today, Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) will offer fair trade bananas alongside regular bananas every Friday until the end of exam period, according to HUDS spokesperson Alex McNitt. The trial period is intended to offer students the opportunity to provide feedback about the two different types, after which HUDS will determine whether their appeal is great enough to make a permanent switch.

The bananas are produced by Fairtrade Labeling Organization (FLO) International, an organization which seeks to ensure that farms in developing nations follow safe environmental practices and that workers receive at least minimum wage.

Fair trade bananas will make their Harvard debut seven months after first appearing on the shelves of select U.S. food stores, thanks to the efforts of the Harvard Fair Trade Initiative (HFTI), a student group which member Mary M. Jirmanus ’05 described as committed to promoting conscious consumerism.

HFTI already worked with HUDS to bring fair trade coffee to the houses in the spring of 2002, following the example of other colleges and coffee retailers.

But fair trade products—produced on farms which offer farmers a greater percentage of profits as well as health care and education facilities—are generally more expensive.

“The number-one challenge to offering fair trade bananas is that it does cost more,” McNitt said.

While HUDS could not reveal the price tag of its conventional bananas, HFTI member Julia Lewandowski ’06 estimated that fair trade bananas cost about 99 cents a pound in a grocery store—30 cents more than regular bananas.

According to McNitt, HUDS serves “an unbelievable number of bananas”—approximately 105 tons each year.

The trial period is designed to determine whether students back the fair trade effort enough to make the bananas worth the additional cost.

“We need to show HUDS that there is student support,” Jirmanus said.

HFTI members will station themselves in the dining halls today to encourage students to try the fair trade product.

Students accustomed to brightly colored fruit may be surprised by the appearance of the fair trade organic product.

“The pesticides and fertilizers that normally improve size and appearance aren’t there because these are organic bananas grown under safe environmental practices,” Jirmanus said.

That’s why the bananas won’t be “pristine yellow,” McNitt said.

“Fair trade bananas are produced in a different way and you can see the difference, but once you peel the skin off it’s still a great banana,” she said.

FLO International currently distributes bananas and pineapples in addition to coffee; grapes and mangoes are on the way.

E-mails have circulated around Harvard praising fair trade practices and stating that students can do their part to “peel away poverty.”

Jirmanus said she hopes students will begin to think about issues they don’t normally consider when they pick up a piece of fruit, that they will “look at bananas as an example of what’s wrong in the larger trading system.”

“We don’t just want to say, ‘Eat these,’” Jirmanus said. “We want to show students what’s wrong, what’s not fair, with conventional bananas.

“We want students to realize that they really do have a choice,” she said.

—Staff writer Wendy D. Widman can be reached at widman@fas.harvard.edu.