On February 3rd Cyclone Yasi ripped through the farms of banana growers in Tully wiping out Australia’s main banana growing hub. Unlike Cyclone Larry this time banana growers had an idea of what to expect – by half slashing the banana plants and laying them on the ground, the hanging fruit was better protected from the worst of the winds. After Yasi hit growers harvested the fruit from the slashed plants and in the month since Yasi there has been a mini glut of bananas. During this time any retailer marking bananas prices up and blaming Cyclone Yasi was taking advantage of the situation – growers certainly weren’t getting the price rises. Now in mid-March this fruit has come to an end and overnight wholesale organic banana prices have quadrupled from as low as $30 a 13kg case to $120 a case this week. Banana production won’t be back to normal until around Christmas so it’s time to say goodbye to bananas in our boxes and spare a thought for banana growers who for the second time in 6 years won’t have an income for the best part of a year.