Michael Hayden, former head of the National Security Agency and the CIA, has found a new audience. He's scheduled to open the 2015 United Fresh Washington Conference, a gathering of the United Fresh Produce Association.
Big Fruit, which meets annually with Washington movers and shakers, "brings together companies across every segment of the fresh produce supply chain, including growers, shippers, fresh-cut processors, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, foodservice operators, industry suppliers and allied associations.”
That the fruit-and-veggie mongers are curious to hear from Hayden suggests that 61 years after the infamous United Fruit coup, the fate of the industry is still heavily intertwined with foreign policy and national security.
“We’re honored to have General Hayden join us to examine the United States’ role in today’s dangerous and unpredictable world,” United Fresh President & CEO Tom Stenzel said in a statement released Monday. “His unique perspective and insights into today’s tumultuous global environment are important to every one of us, as business leaders and also as citizens.”
Major fruit growers have historically been the focus of protest movements in less-developed countries, pushing for land reform, higher wages or better working conditions. To protect their cheap sources, those growers have aimed to exert heavy-handed influence over the local government, or even to run it entirely. The term "banana republic" originally referred to a corrupt regime dominated by a fruit company.
