pineapples are pretty ecologically destructive, workers are treated horribly, mondo pesticides, etc. it's an unfortunate thing to celebrate without raising awareness of this side of the story.
Something worth a million of these types of comments would be a single comment finding a topic nobody could make such a comment on. These things pretty much boil down to "don't celebrate because nothing is pure good".
small farmer's cooperatives growing corn and beans were at least sustainable, but we all know how the game plan goes:
- US BigCorp (Dole mostly) starts throwing around cash to extremely poor and vulnerable populations (specifically Nicaraguan immigrants and traditional farmers in Costa Rica, where most pineapples consumed in US/EU come from); farmers get wide eyed and accept
- farmers cooperatives lose members and land, meaning value adds for things previously e.g. insurance for crop failures become unaffordable; cooperatives wane in power and shrivel up
- vicious cycle ensues: opportunities dwindle unless you're willing to be poisoned, exploited etc. at the local Dole plantation. or grow near/in Nicaragua where your stuff just gets confiscated on the way back in.
it's regrettable that my post was interpreted in the light of negative nancy style, everything is bad so no big deal, or what have you.
the increased demand for pineapples - again, consumed almost exclusively outside of Costa Rica - has had demonstrable negative impacts on Costa Rican farmers, its environment, and so forth. and, as you might have guessed, a principally US corporation makes most of the profits.