 You might have eaten this fruit this morning or had it in your smoothie at some point. Bananas are one of the most widely consumed fruits in Europe, but do you know how they're grown? To find out, we visited banana plantations in the Canary Islands, one of the few unique places in Europe that grows one of our favorite fruits. We'll discover how bananas are grown and how producers in the Canaries are sustainably changing the banana growing game. Welcome, my name is Esther, and I'm here to tell you about the Canary banana plantations from around the world. Most of the banana plantations that are sold in the European market come from Latin America. But here in Canary we have 9,000 hectares and about 400,000 tons per year of production of bananas. And yes, I say bananas. In Spain, we talk about bananas if they're from Canary and bananas if they're from the rest of the world. And why are we bananas and the rest of the bananas? We're different. Canary is a subtropical area. There's no great heat, no great humidity, like in Latin American production areas. Our banana could be homemade food, which is cooked little by little, up to 6 months in the plant, slowly maturing until you get its characteristics. However, in tropical areas, in 3 months, the banana will mature. In that slow cooking, the banana accumulates more sugar, and that's why it's much sweeter and more pleasant. It also produces a substance that makes it more sensitive. From Canaries, more than a million kilos of bananas come out a day in the market. Look, count well, count well. There's no tree. The bananas are plantations, not trees, and they constitute a family. Here we have the mother, the one who produces the bananas of this year. We have here the son, who will produce the pineapple of the next year. And who's down here? Here's the grandmother, who gave the bananas last year. They don't think they bring a farm without harvest. This is part of a strategy. The leaves that are cut into the plants, like the stems, are put on the ground. That's how we manage to maintain the humidity and the nutrients return to the ground. The Canaries banana, when it's a European production, is governed by a very demanding normative environmental matter. That's why, to control the leaves, we always have to give priority to biological and physical means. Our crop is more environmentally sustainable compared to the other productive areas, where frequent phytosanitary treatments are carried out through aviolets to end the diseases they have. Although they don't believe it, the plantations crop also has some problems with pests and diseases. In this plant, we can observe the presence of one of the pests that are usually associated with this crop. In this case, it's the white moss. In the plantations crop, the main pests that we can find, especially in the aerial area of the plant, are usually white moss, cochinilla, we also have red spider. And then we can find other problems associated with the root, as can be the nematodes. In control of different pests, here in the plantations crop, we employ different species of predators. On the other hand, we have some parasitic aviolets, and we also employ some kind of microorganism. Nereo is carrying out a release of a phytoseid, which is a red spider predator. It can keep the plant in line, nature, in a way, is wise, and knows how to put everything in place. We have the advantage that employing natural enemies does not generate resistance to the pests that are present in the plantations. The Panama Sea is present in Canary Islands. But the Panama Sea, the Panama-16, is present in Canary Islands, it is not the 4th or tropical race, which is now being talked about all over the world, as a danger for the production of silver from all over the world. The race present in Canary Islands is the 1st race, and the farmers are used to living with it, simply managing several factors in production. One factor would be the risk, since the flood increases the risk of Panama Sea, another factor would be a balanced flood, and another factor would be the increase in the biodiversity of the soil. The more biodiversity of the soil, the more difficult it is for the river to penetrate the roots. The management of the river is very important for the control of the disease of the Panama Sea. Normally there should not be any kind of flood here, because that favors the development of the Panama Sea. In fact, wet and cold winter is the favorite for us to have more problems in Canary Islands with the race that we have of Panama Sea. The Panama Sea 4th race is present in Canary Islands, we have the sub-tropical race, we are used to working with it, but it is necessary that we take the necessary preventive measures to avoid that vegetable material with this disease enters the island. We can even say that 82% of farmers in Canary Islands have less than 1 hectare, and they all cultivate it in a very traditional way. There are usually many here in Canary Islands, which are pine trees, dry pine leaves. The advantage of pine trees is that we only have high-priced land, and pine trees acidify the land, and depending on the time of summer and how the crop is, we have around 27, 28, 26 liters of plant a day from Monday to Saturday. To observe every banana in its end, its tip, has what we call the flower, which in principle has to be removed to avoid the issue of the pollution of the fungus, the cigar tip that we told you about, and in principle, and this is just the idonian moment, because if we wait for the flower to dry more, we do more damage, we call it this cone, and it is used to hold and so that the plants do not fall with the weight of the pine trees. We usually do cutting points when we see the banana practically round, when it loses these stems that we still see here, more or less these vines will need approximately 10 days to be collected. They are cut in green, they are sent to packaging, they are dismantled, they are classified and put into a maturation plant. Well, you know better the Canarian banana, now if you want to find it in the supermarket, you have to look for the label, the famous motitas, and the IGP symbol that recognizes us as a single banana. If you have any more questions, do not hesitate to consult us on our website or social networks, so whenever you want, we are here, a greeting!